


Burn With Me

by Kelkat9



Series: Dark!Doctor [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adult Content, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Dark Doctor (Doctor Who), F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-12
Updated: 2012-10-08
Packaged: 2017-11-15 22:45:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelkat9/pseuds/Kelkat9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dimension traveling Rose ends up in a world where Time Lords still exist and a Dark version of her Doctor now rules the Earth.  When this Doctor finds her, sparks may fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos to my Whovian sistahs timelord1, who_in_whoville and onabearskinrug who bounced ideas with me on an email convo. This probably wouldn't be here without them. They also served as the betas of awesomeness. Oh and TL1 came up with the brilliant title!

Each time before she jumped, Rose had a ritual.  She would double check to make sure all arrangements had been made in case she didn’t return.  There were personal letters for her Mum, Pete, and her team at Torchwood expressing her feelings and appreciation to each of them.  There were also a series of letters for Tony which were to be delivered to him each year until he was eighteen, passing on what little wisdom Rose felt she had to share with him. There were arrangements made for her flat and distribution of her personal belongings and notes regarding aliens and cases she worked that were to be passed on to her team.  Her pockets were filled with the few mementos she couldn’t leave behind.  She always told her family she loved them.  Rose wouldn’t jump without saying it.  As she learned on a cold windy beach, you never knew if you would get another chance to say those oh so important words.

She always wore the same clothes.  It was an important lesson from the Doctor.  It helped when she was time traveling and hopping minutes, hours or even days in the future or past.  If she jumped within a few hours of her last trip to the same destination, people questioned her more if she looked different.  Her goal was always to blend in and not draw attention or accidentally cause a paradox.  Mickey had accused her of wearing it like armor.  Rose had giggled at that as it was often how she had described the Doctor, first in his black leather coat and then in his long sweeping brown coat and pinstriped suit.

Immediately prior to each jump, she spent ten minutes meditating, thinking about her family here, the stars going out, how everyone was counting on her and lastly, about the Doctor.  She always ended with the Doctor.  She was never sure what would happen in each jump.  She could die, become lost or her highest hope, find him.  Rose was resolved no matter what, to do everything she could to find him and stop the destruction of the multiverse.  Once that was accomplished, she hoped he would ask her to stay with him.  There was something deep inside of herself, an instinct or indomitable faith that screamed she belonged with the Time Lord.

As she prepared to jump once again, she thought of all her prior attempts, jumping into bizarre versions of the Earth.  There were Earths where it was populated by insect-human hybrids; an Earth devastated by war and filled with starving and rampaging mutated humans who could barely be called human; one where there were no humans, only dinosaur-like creatures; or the one that was similar to this one and the Torchwood there knew she didn’t belong and chased her for hours until she could jump back.  She had arrived back from that trip with a bullet as a souvenir.  After the worst of these trips, Pete wouldn’t let her jump without a weapon for protection.  She tried to refuse in memory of the Doctor’s distaste for such things, but Pete’s logic and orders won out on that battle.

The scientists gave her the signal and it was time.  She felt the brief change in the atmosphere, her skin prickled with the energy that enveloped her and the air was sucked out of her lungs as she felt herself hurled through the walls of the one universe into another.  She stumbled forward as she landed and realized she was on a damp paved road.  It was night here and she looked up in the sky at the stars flickering oh so innocently at her. There were no zeppelins.  She inhaled and smelled the scent of a city, a slight smell of decay, smoke and…oh yes, the delightful scent of chips.  It certainly smelled like home.  She heard the sounds of London including cars in the distance so it sounded like home too.  The brick buildings around her also seemed familiar.

She carefully made her way out of the alley and turned down the street.  It was quite deserted and she worried about being in a world that had some sort of curfew enacted.  She really needed to find out more information about the inhabitants here to see if she would blend in or if she had to run for her life.  She reached a more populated area where thankfully, the population looked as human as her.  There were young couples strolling to and from restaurants and people out walking dogs.  It all looked quite normal.  Of course, if there was one thing Rose had learned, normal is when you had to pay the most attention.

She continued on noticing that this Earth looked even more advanced than Pete’s World with vehicles that looked different, lights that looked like something she‘d seen on alien worlds while traveling with the Doctor. Even the clothes people wore looked different.  The style was very modern and architectural and the colors were muted although the women wore artistic and colorful jewelry.  She wasn’t too out of place but she was a little self conscious.  Sometimes, it was all in the details so Rose was careful to observe every little nuance from the technology people used, clothing, how they talked, the shops and what currency they used.  Luckily, they appeared to use a form of credit card here so Rose was able to stop for a bite to eat using a psychic credit card she had nicked during one of her other jumps.  At the time, she felt a bit guilty swiping it off the alien she had run into but he was a con artist, like Jack when she first met him, so she figured he was smart enough to live without it. 

The psychic credit card had been a very handy tool during her jumps.  After all, she was usually stuck in each world for a matter of hours or days until her jumper recharged.  It always amazed her how the little lemon tart-like gadget reacted to the energies in the worlds she was in so that she never knew how long she would have to wait.  Sometimes, this was a monumental problem, especially if the inhabitants of the world were less than friendly.  Although the chips were not served in newspaper, that did not lessen Rose’s enjoyment of them.  The hot, fried treat was just what she needed.  They even served them with the right vinegar here. 

A flat screen telly in the chippy was on and news was being broadcast.  Rose nearly choked when a picture of the Doctor flashed across the screen.  They even called him the Doctor except he had another title, one that she never in her wildest imaginations thought she would ever hear him called: “Lord Doctor, Protector and Chancellor of Earth.”  This Doctor had dark, cold eyes which almost seemed to bore into hers through the telly.  He wore dark somber clothing, was unsmiling and his posture was stiff and erect.  He almost looked at those around him in disdain. “Definitely not the right Earth,” she mumbled as she began cleaning up and preparing to leave.  This was unexpected and worrisome.  She had to get out of here and avoid any involvement in whatever this was. 

Before she left, she heard one more thing on the television that caught her attention.  There was an announcement that an honored Time Lord delegation from Gallifrey would be touring the Earth.  The announcer made it sound like quite an event that the entire planet should celebrate. 

Rose’s breath caught.  The Time Lords were alive here.  Then the penny dropped.  They were alive and they controlled the Earth.  Maybe more than controlled it, they owned it and all the population.  Rose shivered at the thought of this.  Time Lords were incredibly powerful.  She always suspected they were not as benevolent as her Doctor from the stories he had told her.  The Earth would stand no chance against such powerful aliens.  They could unmake the Earth in the blink of an eye if they chose.  She looked around at the people who seemed to accept the announcement with little fuss.

As she walked outside, she discretely pulled out her mobile which had a few unique apps on it that were Torchwood issue.  A few taps and she confirmed that there was a sophisticated surveillance system at work.  This was more than an advanced Earth; this was a Time Lord dominated planet advanced to the level at which they wanted it to be.  What she didn’t know was why? 

Rose quickly made her way from the square.  She needed to get out of here and fast.  They probably already detected the dimension cannon, the ripple it would have caused in time and space, not to mention she was covered in void stuff.  Her pace picked up as she made her way in the opposite direction of the alley she arrived in.  They were probably already there and more than likely tracing her location.  There was a crowded street up ahead.  She would do her best to lose herself in the crowd, making it more difficult for them to find her.

As she wound her way through the crowd, she had a tingling feeling, like she was being pursued.  She focused on calming her breathing and keeping a passive expression on her face.  She didn’t want them to think she was aware of their pursuit.  She continued on, zig zagging through the crowd, scanning the area looking for some way to lose them.  She saw a bar up ahead and ducked in, squeezing her way through the young crowd, ignoring a few blokes copping a feel and making her way toward the back thinking she would sneak through kitchen.  Just as she thought she made it, everything went dark.

When she next opened her eyes, she was semi-clothed, strapped to an examination table and surrounded by devices, some of which she recognized others she didn’t.  It was a cold white and silver room and she was alone.  A door opened and in walked the Doctor she had seen on television.  She stared at him standing there, his hands shoved into the pockets of his dark trench coat staring darkly at her giving her no hint as to what he was thinking.

He stepped closer, examining her.  Rose began to panic.  All she could think about was how very bad this all was.  Finally she broke the silence. “Why am I being held here like this?  I demand to know why I’m bein’ detained.”

He looked up at her and arched a brow, almost in amusement. “Demand?  You’re demanding?  Funny that, ‘cos, I don’t think you’re in any position to demand anything.  Now me, I think I can demand plenty like who you are and why you were found with prohibited technology?”

“Prohibited technology?” she asked feigning innocence.

He paced a bit more and picked up her jumper dangling it from his fingers. “This ring a bell?  Or maybe you’d like to tell me where and when you’re from?”

“Why’s the Protector and Lord Chancellor of this world interested in some innocent girl?” she shot back, trying to deflect his questions while she figured a way out of this.

He dropped the jumper and took a step closer to her.  “Innocent girl?  Oh you may be many things but innocent is not one of them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout.  I haven’t done anything.  Just out for a stroll and some chips, me.”

“Is that so?  Care to tell me why your DNA isn’t on file?  Or maybe why there’s no record of you anywhere?  And that’s just to get started.”  Rose shrugged and tested her bonds.

“You’re not going anywhere, especially after what you’ve done,” he commented not missing her subtle movements.

“Yeah, and what was that exactly?” she asked cockily.

“You really don’t know do you?” he almost drawled.  “Why don’t you just tell me your name?   Would make things easier than just calling you I don’t know, Fred?”

“Do I look like a Fred?” she asked, slightly annoyed and straining against her bonds to look at him.

“No.  You look like an intruder, someone who doesn’t belong here.  Maybe you’re here to cause unrest or worse.  You are different, an anomaly and one which will be explained.”

“What, you can’t figure it out on your own?” she said brazenly, knowing she shouldn’t taunt this version of the Doctor but almost unable to stop herself.

He leaned over menacingly, Oncoming Storm flaring in his eyes.  “I know that you were brought here and examined by some very talented Time Lords who are now in a recovery ward thanks to you, whatever you are.  No human could do what you did.  This is my world and everything on it is mine.  I say what happens here and right now, things aren’t looking too favorable for you.  You regenerated four Time Lords who were examining you so I suggest you cooperate and tell me your name or I will send in humans with primitive methodology for extracting the information, which you might not find pleasant and might leave you damaged.”

Rose’s eyes widened.  How had she regenerated four Time Lords?  What had they been doing to her?  She looked back at him as her mind raced with these questions.  He stared back expectantly.

“I’m Rose.  My name…it’s Rose.”  She swallowed hard as he stared at her wondering what he would do next.  She was in so much trouble.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Rose, like the flower?” He said sarcastically. “How human and common. Doesn’t fit you. But, then again, roses do have thorns don’t they?” he said, staring down at her. He made her feel like he was trying to crawl inside her mind. Rose did have some psychic training. It was required of all Torchwood personnel but especially her with all the dimension traveling. She slammed up her walls but was quite sure it was a meager defense to a Time Lord.

He smiled coldly at her. “Psychic training. Pathetic but it’s there and that just confirms you are not from around here. Now then, simple Rose who is not so simple, where are you from and why are you here?”

“I can’t tell you that. It could cause damage to this time line or even this universe. I’m not even supposed to be here. Landed here by accident. Sort of a wrong turn you might say. I just want to be on my way,” she told him, trying not to allow her feelings for her Doctor to influence her with this one.

This Doctor was just as clever as her Doctor. His life experiences were slightly off and he may have been a darker version but he was still brilliant and overflowing with curiosity. He had to know more about her and he didn’t miss anything she said. “You are talking to a Time Lord and I’ll decide what will or will not damage any time lines. Now, explain what you mean by danger to this universe.”

Rose was mentally chastising herself for revealing too much. “I don’t suppose you’ve noticed any stars disappearin?” she asked.

He stared at her like she had dribbled on her shirt. “Stars disappearing,” he stated with little emotion. “Stars, as you call them, diminish and form all over the universe all the time. It’s cyclical,” he lectured as if she was the dumb ape her first Doctor accused humans of being.

She rolled her eyes. “I know that! I mean wiped out of existence. Don’t your people pay attention to that stuff? I don’t suppose you’ve taken a look at the Void lately?” she shot back.

This caught his attention. “You’ve been through the Void,” he mused. “And, you’re covered in quite a bit of Void residue like you‘ve spent a lot of time traveling in the Void. You really aren’t from this universe are you? What do you know of the Void?”

“I’m not sayin’ anythin’ else until you let me up off this thing and let me put some clothes on,” she said and looked across the room, ignoring him.

“Like that’s going to happen after what you did,” he snarked back.

She turned and looked at him, trying to keep her face passive but failing. Rose’s eyes were always her giveaway. “What do you mean? What did I do?” she asked, a bit of fear creeping into her voice.

He smiled almost cruelly at her. “You were brought here for questioning quite unconscious. My people began a physical and telepathic examination of you. Apparently, you didn’t like it.”

“I don’t remember any of that,” Rose vehemently denied.

“Well, you were immobilized. It wasn’t until the telepathic probe that you reacted a bit….alien I suppose the humans would call it. The sensors indicated a spike in artron and huon energies. You glowed with it. You spoke in a rather pretentious voice and announced “No, this is not for you.” Then, rather melodramatically you threw them across the room. Time Lords don’t take kindly to lesser beings assaulting them so they stopped playing nice. I’m afraid that’s when you decided it would be fun to trigger a spontaneous regeneration. It was….impressive if not unpleasant for the Time Lords involved.”

Rose turned away from him and stared across the room and that’s when she saw it. “Bad Wolf” was streaming across one of the monitors. Fear clawed at her and her heart rate began to race. She couldn’t believe this was happening, here and now of all times. This shouldn’t be possible. He’d taken it all out of her. He’d told her she had nothing to worry about.

“What is ‘Bad Wolf‘?” he demanded and she realized he was watching her stare at the monitor.

“I don’t know,” she lied.

Suddenly, a sonic screwdriver was digging into her temple. “Don’t lie to me!” he said in a tight, demanding voice. “Now then, you are going to tell me how you did it and what you are or this very handy little device is going to crack your skull like an egg and I will dig through your brain and find out for myself.”

“You’d use your sonic screwdriver on me?” she asked with just a hint of a quiver in her voice. “Don’t think that would give you the answers you want.” She gained more confidence as she spoke. “And, you do want answers don’t you? You want to know what’s happening in the void cause it’s comin’ here to this universe and nothing can stop it. It’s why I’m here, why I can be here. Everyone’s in danger. Even you. Besides, aren’t you afraid I’ll regenerate you?” she goaded, trying to distract him from questioning her about “Bad Wolf.”

“How do you know this is a sonic screwdriver?” he asked softly. He pulled it away from her. “No, wait. Explain how you know anything about the void. How is that related to you?”

Rose looked at him. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Whatever happened to those people, it wasn’t me doin’ it on purpose. I told you, I’m here by accident. Somethin’s comin’ and it’s effectin’ all the universes. I have to keep goin. I’m sorry for what happened here but I have to go. Lives are at stake.”

He stared at her for a long time. He looked across the room and the screen was blank now. Rose looked at him pleadingly. “No, I have more questions,” he stated coldly. “You won’t be going anywhere until I’m satisfied. “Now then Rose, it’s obvious you’re a trans universal traveler with….special talents. What is coming and what is it that you think you can do to stop whatever it is?”

Rose sighed and banged her head on the bed. This was taking too long and was getting complicated but she knew he would never let her go if she didn’t tell him something. There wasn’t much choice. “All right. No, I’m not from this Earth. In the universe I came from, we noticed entire constellations disappearin. None of our non-terrestrial contacts knew what was causing it. In fact, they were scared. Ya know, when the more advanced space travelin’ species start lookin’ to run, Earthbound people know we’re in trouble. We also noticed a change in the universal walls and the Void. Whatever this was, it destroyed everything in the Void and made travel between parallel worlds possible.”

“Wait,” he interrupted in an annoyed voice. “Most sentient beings are not even aware of parallel worlds or the Void. How is it you were monitoring it?” he demanded.

“Had a bit of a run in with another parallel world. That world had scientists experimenting with the universal walls. It affected the adjacent universe, started causing massive global warming. Travel between the two universes became possible. It made everyone a bit more aware,” Rose explained, purposely omitting information about her Doctor, Daleks and Cybermen.

He rubbed his face in a very similar habit of her Doctor. It made Rose’s heart flutter just a bit. Finally he sighed. “All right, I can accept that, but just barely,” he said emphasizing ‘barely.’ “Still, it doesn’t explain why you are jumping into parallel worlds. What do you hope to find?”

He watched her as she thought about what she was going to say. He could tell already she wasn’t going to tell him everything. He couldn’t deny how intrigued he was. He’d been stuck on this planet for over a century and was bored. Although he was annoyed she’d harmed the few Time Lords he considered decent, she was just such an interesting mystery that had shattered the continual boredom of this place.

Rose chewed on her bottom lip wondering what she should tell him. He just stared at her and looked impatient. “I was lookin’ for someone with more expertise on these types of things,” she finally revealed.

“More expertise?” he said slowly. He smiled then but it wasn’t a joyful, happy smile her Doctor wore. This was more condescending. “Like a Time Lord perhaps?”

“Something like that,” she hedged.

“Something or exactly like that? You are a very bad liar, Rose. So who were you looking for? Maybe I know him or her.”

Rose could only wonder how she managed to dig herself deeper and deeper into a hole she couldn’t possibly escape. She was very worried about how much she should tell him. “I doubt it. He’s not in this universe and he told me it was impossible for other Time Lords to exist.” She paused in thought. “Then again, he said lots of stuff that was impossible that I seem to find isn’t the case. He’s a bit oblivious in that whole impossible thing really.”

His eyes narrowed. “Name him!” he demanded. He was getting a prickly feeling he didn’t like as if she was keeping something critically important from him.

She looked at him and he stormed over, leaning ominously over her. “Tell me or I’ll carve it out of you.”

She glared back at him without fear. “Fine! It’s a parallel you. Happy now?” He backed up several steps staring at her in disbelief. “Now, can I please leave?” she asked unhappily.

“A parallel version of me in another universe. You mean someone who looks like me?”

Rose sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be daft! He’s a parallel Time Lord, known as the Doctor, travels in a blue box called the Tardis. You know, your fantastic sentient time machine. Bigger on the inside and all that. He’s brilliant and…. well, not like you other than in the Time Lord and looks department.”

He’s eyes widened slightly. There was no way she could know all that unless…she was telling the truth. Now, he was utterly and truly intrigued. Beyond intrigued, he was riveted by her. “You’re telling the truth. Well now, isn’t that something. And you threw yourself across the void into a parallel universe just to find other me then? Wait, how’d you get in another universe in the first place? You said you were looking for me….” He said and began pacing. “Looking but you don’t know how to find this other Doctor.” He stopped and turned to her. “Wait, how did you end up in one universe and him in another?” he asked perceptively.

“It’s complicated,” she answered softly, not wanting to discuss that story.

“Oh, I’ll just bet it is. What, did you annoy me and I imprisoned you somewhere? Sounds like something I would do.”

“No!” she snapped. “It wasn’t like that. We were in a battle and I…I ended up in another dimension. You couldn’t come for me without destroying two universes,” she snapped without thinking and hurt that he suggested it. She knew she shouldn’t be but it was so difficult hearing someone with her Doctor’s face and voice say such cruel things to her.

“A battle,” he scoffed. “Sounds like an excuse to be rid of you. If I really wanted you back, I’d have come for you.”

“You’re wrong,” she said softly. “He couldn’t, not without endangering others and he never would do that.”

He paused and looked at her, really looked at her. “You love him,” he said in disbelief. “And you think he loves you.”

“Can you please let me up now,” she said, tired of this discussion.

“A potentially multiversal threat and a universal hopping uncommon Rose seeking her long lost Time Lord love and she just so happens to fall into my world,” he said softly looking off into the distance. He turned to her. “All right,” he said and aimed his sonic at her. The bindings withdrew and she sat up rubbing where she had been restricted.

“Thanks,” she said gratefully.

“Oh I wouldn’t thank me yet. I still have questions and you will answer me. Let’s just say, you’re interesting and although you are more than capable of causing damage, I don’t think you’re particularly threatening. You’re also not going anywhere so don’t get any ideas.” He pulled a bracelet out of his pocket and before she could argue, he snapped it onto her wrist. You won’t be leaving this building. If you try, you’ll find yourself back here with a nasty headache or worse.”

“Why are you doin’ this?” Rose asked, staring at the matte silver band around her wrist.

“Cos I can. I told you, this is my world and everything on it is mine, including you.” A young Indian woman dressed in a navy suit walked in with some clothes which she handed to Rose. She nodded her head at the dark Doctor and left quietly.

“I want my own clothes,” Rose insisted as she watched this Doctor lock all her belongings in a cabinet. He turned to her and she swore she saw some light in his eyes for the first time.

“No. You’ll wear what I tell you to wear. Get dressed, I have a schedule to keep and I’ve wasted enough time dealing with you.”

Rose didn’t make any attempt to hide her annoyance with him. “Fine, where can I change?” she said in a clipped voice.

A smile bloomed on his face and he leaned back against the wall looking cocky. “Here is fine.”

Rose glared at him. “What? You wanna watch?”

He shrugged. “You’re dangerous criminal not to be trusted. Can’t leave you alone now can I?”

Rose sighed and turned abruptly around. She pulled off her bra and knickers and began dressing in the new clothes all the while muttering how her Doctor wouldn’t have done this to her. When she turned around he was standing there, a dark look back in his eyes as he stared at her in a way that made her shiver a bit.

“I’m not this other Doctor. And, you’re with me now.” With that, he grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her out of the room leaving her wondering what he meant to do with her and how she would get out of this mess.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter we learn that the Time War happened here, Time Lords are cunning and control freaks and Dark!Ten is still quite bad. Things will start to steam up in Chapt 4 - so sayeth Dark!Doctor.

 

Rose seethed at being forced to wear clothing HE provided. It was a slinky black halter top jumpsuit with the most impractical silver high healed sandals. Then, to top it off, he roughly yanked her out of the room without another word. It wasn’t easy keeping up with him in shoes that were not designed for running.

As they briskly made their way through the seemingly unoccupied building, they passed a wall of plate glass windows and she soon realized she was in some ultra modern high rise. Looking out over this London, there were a few differences from Pete’s World, namely, no zeppelins. The architecture of the London skyline was similar. Tall metal and glass buildings stretched into the sky but with an alien quality that indicated advanced technology. Some of the metal structures had an iridescent cast to them. The designs weren’t all straight lines or curves but seemed to include geometric shapes that looked practically impossible to build without some sort of alien tech. There were still a few historic buildings but they seemed overshadowed by this ultra modern London.

The building they were in seemed to be decorated in a minimalist style with little furniture and slate tile floors mixed with vibrant blue carpeting. The walls were decorated with a mixture of art throughout human history. There was everything from Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Monet along with a few sculptures displayed on pedestals.

“Whatcha do, pillage all of Earth’s museums?” Rose snapped as they marched past the impressive art collection. He glared at her and tugged her harder as he increased his pace. She was determined to keep up with him no matter what.

Eventually, he pulled her through two shiny black double doors into a massive office which again was lined on one side by a wall of windows. It was dominated by a large polished obsidian black desk. It was obvious to Rose this was not of Earth origin as something in it almost fluctuated or shimmered as if reality bent around it. On the wall opposite it, was a Time Lord emblem she remembered seeing all over the Tardis. The Doctor had mentioned it being the seal of some important Time Lord. Sitting in a corner was something that made Rose’s heart leap. A bright blue police call box sat tantalizing close to her. She could almost hear its song and unlike this Doctor, it was familiar like it knew her.

“Sit!” he barked, shaking her out of her thoughts as he led her over toward an acrylic looking chair near the desk.

Rose yanked her arm from him. She stood glaring at him and crossed both arms in front of her. “I’m not your pet and won’t be ordered about!”

He loomed over her, his face inches from hers and stared into her eyes. The tension was palpable and a little shiver went through her almost like an electrical current was flying between them. “I told you everything on this world is mine including you. Now you will sit!”

Rose was defiant. “No. Not until you ask nicely,” she answered rebelliously.

His eyes were blazing at her and he exhaled slowly. “Okay,” he said, seeming to relax and then he shot forward faster than she could see and yanked her toward a chair and shoved her in it hard. “When I give you an order, you will obey,” he said coldly and then walked toward his desk and waved the sonic over it, effectively dismissing her.

Rose felt her temper near the boiling point. Oh but she was going to make him regret this. She watched as the top of the desk seemed to liquefy and swirl with a rainbow of iridescent colors. Holographic images seemed to metamorphose above it and hundreds of images and streaming alien text appeared. He seemed to glare at all of it resentfully.

“Why are you doin’ this?” she finally asked after she had calmed down enough to talk to him without cursing.

He looked over at her, his dark eyes narrowing at her. “I told you. You’re not going anywhere until I have my answers.”

“No, I mean this, all of this,” she said, waving her arms around indicating the room.

“You mean the planet?” He paced around the desk toying with his sonic. “Because, someone has to oversee this reckless primitive race.”

“Really, and who decided that?” she asked, sitting back, crossing her arms and legs.

“Look, I don’t know how it is in your obviously messed up little universe but here, we keep the order. We’ve already dealt with one nasty war where too many of my people died to protect ignorant little primitives like you and this lot.”

“The Time War,” Rose said softly and looked at him with compassion. Even if this Doctor was a complete git, based on the little bit that her Doctor told her, she knew it was horrible time and many had died. Such a horrific war would put anyone in a dark place.

“You know about that,” he stated, the barest hint of surprise in his eyes. He stared hard at her, trying not to show his curiosity or the emotions boiling inside of him at the mere mention of the Time War.

“Yeah, I know a bit about it. My Doctor didn’t want to talk about it much but what he did tell me….I can’t imagine being in the middle of all that horror.”

“And this…Doctor,” he said, almost spitting out the name “Doctor” like it left a bad taste in his mouth, “chose to spend time with you instead of his own people. The Time Lords there just walked away, let the universe go to Hell as the humans say.”

Rose stared at her lap, not wanting to answer him. “Well, go on then! You who think you know so much about me and what’s right. Why stop now? You’ve been judging me since you first found out I rule here. So enlighten me, uncommon Rose. How did the mighty Time Lords in your universe solve it all,” he said angrily and with great theatrics.

His cavalier statement and sarcastic attitude infuriated her. This was something that destroyed her Doctor and she wasn’t going to sit her and listen to him belittle so much death and destruction. Rose jumped up furious with him. “They all died! All of them, the Daleks, the Time Lords and countless other races so only one Time Lord was left. One Time Lord all alone in the universe doing the best he could. So yeah, sorry I’ve seen how things could be different,” she snapped, breathing hard and clenching her hands.

He stopped dead still and stared at her. Her words had struck him to the core as he imagined a universe without his people. Such aching solitude would drive anyone mad. Then, he looked at her, flushed with anger, so much emotion shining in her eyes and brilliantly shining timelines wrapped all around her and he could see quite clearly why this parallel version of him would have stolen away with her. Something was tugging at him, unfurling from deep inside. He rebelled against it and tamped it back down. No, he was done with those feelings. They had done nothing but brought him pain and misery.

He soniced the desk. Images of destruction, planets burning, Daleks, piles of bodies and great space battles flashed before Rose. “Billions died here. Entire races far more advanced than these humans are extinct. I was there. I watched it all. I helped make it happen. Have you ever even seen a Dalek up close and personal?” he asked in an angry voice.

“As a matter of fact I have, several of ‘em,” she said, trying to be defiant but failing as fear and sadness overwhelmed her.

“Then you understand what they were and what they were capable of. They traveled through to influence races, steal technology, destroy their enemies before they were evolved enough to be a threat and worse. They wanted Gallifrey so they could eradicate every sentient being until there was nothing but them. We did…I did what had to be done. Many of my people died and those that survived vowed to never allow this to happen again. And, it won’t! We’ll see to that.” he said emphatically.

Before she could demand he elaborate, the doors to the office opened and three formally robed people walked in. Unlike the Doctor who was dressed in a dark grey version of her Doctor’s brown pinstripe and who wore a black overcoat instead of brown, these people wore simple loose fitting clothing in beige, gray, white or boring muted colors over which was a silk red, blue or gold knee length robe. The robes had high collars and gold swirly writing around the collar and down the edges of the robes which where open to reveal the clothing beneath. Rose knew without being told, these were Time Lords.

The three Time Lords looked at Rose as if she was some rare specimen they had discovered. They then turned to the Doctor. "Lord Doctor, why is this creature here? Wouldn't it be wise to lock it up where it can do no harm and be properly investigated?" the blonde haired, middle aged Time Lady dressed in the gold robe said to the Doctor.

"I concur with Lady Jansay. This does not seem the wisest course of action given its attack on Lords Karantopbloa and Ashnu and Ladies Lindanie and Stephanoupkoa," the Time Lord dressed in blue said in a haughty manner.

"Oi, I'm not an it!" Rose said as she faced them with righteous indignation. "I'm a sentient bein’ entitled to be recognized and am in fact recognized by the Shadow Proclamation and several planets with bureaucrats a lot stuffier than you."

The Time Lord in blue turned his cold gray eyes on her, making Rose feel like bugs were crawling on her skin. "Stop that!" she ordered.

The Time Lord showed just the briefest surprise before his face regained its impassive disinterest. "This is not protocol. This...being is obviously an uncatalogued species and should be remitted to Gallifrey for further study," he said and glanced at Rose as if he wanted to study her himself. Rose was sure that his version of study would be something of a nightmare.

"I'm in charge of this world. She was found her and is mine to study. I judge her to be no threat," the Doctor said in an autocratic manner.

"Not a threat? She regenerated four Time Lords. That makes her inherently threatening," Lady Jansay pointed out in a pleasant but authoritative voice.

"And yet, as you can see, I am unharmed. Mistakes were made in her examination and ones which those particular scientists won't make again," the Doctor informed them. "Now, you didn't come here to question my treatment of this being. Why don't we get to it shall we?" he said with dark charm.

Lord Omicrex his blue robe swirling about him stepped forward. "This is Time Lord business not be disclosed before lesser species," he said arrogantly.

The Time Lord in red, a young brown haired man by the name of Lord Whimsy, finally spoke. "Well Lord Omicrex, I believe you just gave this young female..." he turned to Rose. "I'm sorry what are you called?" he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Rose," Rose answered and smiled at him. "Thanks for asking."

He nodded at her. "Yes, well I believe you just acknowledged Rose here as a person sentient enough to understand Time Lord affairs and thus can hardly treat her as a lesser species." The Doctor cracked a slight smile at this.

Lord Omicrex flashed an angry gaze at Lord Whimsy who seemed amused by it. Lady Jansay spoke in a dialect Rose didn’t understand. From the lyrical quality and lilting tones, she believed it might be the Time Lords native language. She had heard her Doctor use words that sounded a bit like this language that he had refused to translate.

While they bantered at each other, sometimes with emphasis and loudly, especially on the Doctor’s part, Rose wandered to the large desk and observed the images. Some of the species she recognized. Others she had never seen before. Some of the images were from Earth and depicted cities, people, security forces patrolling or what looked like long winded governmental debates. Bored of this she walked to the windows and stared out across the city, her mind racing through alternative escape plans, how she would get the dimension jumper back and get out of this world. Throughout all this, she felt herself looking off toward this Doctor’s Tardis. She could still hear it beckoning to her. If she closed her eyes and focused, she almost felt a warmth and light surround her and make her feel safe.

It hadn’t taken him long to deal with the Time Lord ambassadors. Lord Omicrex was going to be a problem that would have to be dealt with soon. He didn’t like the way he was looking at Rose. When he had turned and found her communing with this Tardis, it unleashed something dark and possessive in him. He already had declared Rose his, but this was something deeper. His Tardis didn’t just sing to anyone. Rose was indeed uncommon and he was not letting her go, even to a parallel version of himself.

She gasped and jumped when she felt someone near her. The Doctor was standing so close she could feel his breath on her neck. “You shouldn’t be able to do that with my Tardis,” he said, his voice gruff and eyes dark and intense as he looked at her.

“Do what? I didn’t do anything. Just standing here lookin’ out over the city while you and the Time Lords bicker,” Rose replied, trying not to look at his Tardis.

He stiffened. “Time Lords do not bicker!”

“Could’ve fooled me,” she said and took a step away from him. Something about his proximity was having an effect on her. She supposed it was because he was similar to her Doctor. Of course, he only looked like her Doctor and his personality was completely different, but it was getting difficult to remind herself of that. Especially, when he was standing so close and staring so intently at her.

“You don’t speak Gallifreyan much less High Gallifreyan,” he stated with assuredness.

Rose paused and whipped around, slightly insulted which she was sure was his intent. “Really, why you so sure of that,” she retorted.

He smiled ever so slightly. “Judging from your behavior so far, if you had been listening in, you would have stormed over and laid into Lord Omicrex.”

“I don’t like him,” Rose said, shaking her head. “That Lady Jansay ain’t much better, but Lord Whimsy, he’s a bit all right.” She looked up at him. “They’re tryin’ to tell you what to do aren’t they?”

His face closed off abruptly like a door slamming shut. “Time Lord politics are complex and not something you’d understand.”

Rose smiled. “Oh yeah? I’m a pretty good judge of character and have instincts about people. I might have an opinion.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared. “All right then, go on. Impress me.”

“You’re here to watch over this world and keep humans on some Time Lord schedule for development. Problem is, some Time Lords like Lord Omicrex don’t like humans. Probably thinks Time Lords are better than most other races and prefers to keep everyone else stunted and planet bound. He wants your people to be the only ones with power. That one doesn’t want to dirty his hands with any of this but doesn’t like the way you run things either. I’d say, he thinks your too progressive.”

“You talk like I want to be here.” He paced around Rose. “I’m not here out of some duty to humans or because I even like them. This is punishment. My punishment for all I did in the war in the name of my people and keeping the universe in one piece. A century stuck on this stinking planet surrounded by a bunch of stupid humans who barely have the ability to comprehend what’s out there and would be content with blowing themselves up or be slaves to other races that would use them as weapons,” he said with great bitterness.

“I’m sorry,” Rose said and meant it. He was obviously still in pain from the Time War as well suffering being an outcast from his own people. It wasn’t fair.

“Might have been interesting for the first few years but after that…” he scoffed. “Bloody boring planet and era. Couldn’t even put me in an era that was decent,” he complained. He whipped around at Rose. “You’re trying to distract me. Don’t think it’s working. You and I still have business to attend to,” he said walking toward her backing her up against the windows. He slapped his hands against the glass on either side of her.

“Now then, uncommon Rose,” he said annunciating the name he liked to call her, his eyes skimming over her face like a caress. “You’ve explained your little mission but you haven’t told me everything.”

Rose stared into his dark, ancient eyes and felt something in herself responding to him. She had to remind herself this was not her Doctor and he was dangerous. “I don’t know what you mean,” she answered and unconsciously licked her lips.

The Doctor stared at her little nervous gesture and inhaled. She was a temptation. Mysterious, strong, passionate, smart and she had a way with time that any Time Lord would envy. He was finding it difficult to stay focused on this interrogation. “You’re not normal for a human. You’re different. Before you went on your regeneration rampage, my scientists completed the first phase of their analysis. So tell me, how is it you have artron energy with a dash of huon particles tucked away and almost dormant in your cells. How do you draw on it much less control it?” Rose swallowed hard at this information and may have internally swore at her Doctor for not telling her all of this.

He smiled as he watched her internal dialog displayed across her face. “You don’t know do you? Did other me do this to you? Is that why it’s there and you’re not dead. Most humans would be, you know. Did this Time Lord you love so much and have such faith in do something a bit unethical to you. Maybe he’s not everything you think he is,” he said darkly, leaning in closer to her.

“Stop it,” Rose whispered, trying to lean into the glass away from his almost seductive look. “It’s not like that. It…it was an accident.”

He pulled back slightly. “An accident? Oh I doubt that my uncommon enigmatic Rose. Tell me about this…accident?”

Luckily for Rose, a gong sounded interrupting them. He pulled back looking annoyed. “Yes!” he snipped and the Indian woman who had brought Rose clothes earlier entered the room. “I’m sorry my Lord, but there’s been an incident.”

“Incident? What sort of incident?” he demanded and walked over to his desk and aimed his sonic at it. Images appeared of a giant rock-like space ship hovering over Cardiff Appeared before him.

“The space craft entered our airspace unannounced and accelerated to Cardiff bay. A portion of the planetary population appears to be under some type of hypnotic control, sir.”

Rose looked at the image and knew exactly who this was and what was happening but before she could say anything she watched this Doctor react abruptly. He aimed his sonic at the picture of the space ship and spoke in what Rose knew to be Sycorax. He waved his hand over his desk and rose watched in astonished horror as the ship was struck by multiple beams of light and exploded raining rubble and debris over Cardiff.

After observing the destruction, he turned toward the Indian woman. “Send a clean up crew to Cardiff, confiscate any technology. I want a death toll as soon as possible,” he directed coldly. The woman didn’t seem at all surprised by what had happened. In fact, she merely replied, “Yes, my Lord,” bowed and left the room.

Finally, Rose couldn’t contain herself. “What the Hell do you think your doin!” she shouted at him.

He turned to her annoyed. “What do you mean? They attacked the planet knowing it was a protectorate of the Time Lords.”

“But you didn’t even give them a chance! You just murdered them!”

“Murdered them?” he asked and laughed with no humor to his voice. “I don’t think you understand. No one attacks this world and they should know that. They purposely came here to steal some humans or possibly natural resources to sell in the interstellar black market. I won’t tolerate that.”

“What, so forget second chances all together! You don’t even give first chances. Is that it?” Rose asked, pacing a bit and glaring at him.

“And I suppose your saint of a Doctor would never have hurt them?” he said with derision, really starting to despise this parallel him.

“No, he would’ve given ‘em a chance to leave and not come back. In fact, that’s what happened. He challenged the leader to a sword fight and once he sorted him, ordered them to leave and spread the word that Earth was defended.”

“And you really think that worked?” he said sarcastically.

“Yeah, it would have if Torchwood hadn’t blown them up,” she mumbled, not wanting to look at him.

“Torchwood?” he asked and smiled. “Well now, how about that. Another parallel. Torchwood is a useful tool on occasion. I find they enjoy their work and are quite efficient.”

Rose looked up at him. “You control Torchwood here?”

“I created Torchwood. They keep unauthorized technology out of the hands of the general population and through them, I control when technological advances are introduced.”

Rose stared at him in disbelief. How ironic that he would control Torchwood in this universe. He sauntered over to her. “You look a bit put off. Torchwood in your universe a bit different? Maybe your Doctor’s been lying to you and he’s more like me than you think?”

“No! He’s nothin’ like you, at least when you’re like this. Torchwood in my home universe had a mandate to capture the Doctor. They’re the reason we got separated.”

He stopped and gazed speculatively at her. “And yet, you arrived here with equipment labeled as property of Torchwood,” he said with a smirk.

“Torchwood in the universe I’ve been livin’ in is different than the one in my home universe. They sent me to find the Doctor and save multiverse. Unless you’ve forgotten, there’s a tiny problem with stars disappearin,” Rose shot back at him.

“Oh I haven’t’ forgotten about that. I’ll sort that out all in good time. But ya see, there‘s still one more thing I need to know.” He walked over until he was in her personal space. Rose didn’t back off this time. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. He leaned in close to her ear. “What does Bad Wolf have to do with disappearing stars?”

Rose looked up at his triumphant look and then noticed the words “Bad Wolf” obscuring every image over his desk.


	4. Chapter 4

“I told you, I don’t know what Bad Wolf has to do with this,” Rose explained, as she watched the words dissolve before her eyes.

“I don’t believe you. I think you do know. You’re afraid,” he said in a deadly soft voice.

Rose snapped back and looked him. “I’m not afraid and certainly not of words. They’re just words; that’s all,” she said, trying to convince not only him but herself. The tricky part was that she knew that was a lie. Those words were meant to lead her back to him, to her Doctor. She wondered if they were meant to remind her that her Doctor was waiting for her in her home universe and not to be deceived by this imposter Doctor. She convinced herself that’s what it meant. It had to.

Her stomach rumbled loudly and the Doctor looked at her impatiently. “You humans and your need for constant sustenance and waste elimination,” he groused. 

“Sorry, am I inconveniencin’ you?” she said snarkily. “Maybe you should just be rid of me. Give me back my dimension jumper and I’ll be off.”

He looked down his nose at her. “I don’t think so. We’re not done and you still haven’t answered all my questions.”

Rose rolled her eyes and walked over to the windows again, looking out over London. The sun was setting now. She had no idea how long she had been here. The last thing she ate was chips right after she arrived. “So what next?” she asked a bit petulantly.

“Dinner,” he answered abruptly. Rose turned and cocked an eyebrow at him in question. He walked over and grabbed her arm. This time however, he wound her arm with his and led her away instead of dragging her.

He led her outside the office and teleported with her to a room which must have been at the top of the skyscraper. A table was dressed for a formal dinner on one side of the room. It was like a large sun room with plate glass windows and an arched domed ceiling of glass. Rose stared out the window at the blue, orange and violet colored sky as the sun set. The Doctor stood beside her, gazing down at the expression of longing on her face. “I take it you haven’t seen many sunsets lately?”

Rose hesitantly turned to him. “No. Been a bit busy with the multiverse crisis and all.”

He arched a brow at her. “Yes, I imagine you have. But not tonight.” He activated his sonic and soft music played.

Rose smiled. “Orichenian waltz. It’s been a while since I heard that.”

“Other me,” he almost spit out.

Rose turned to him and smiled. “Yeah, well I mean previous regeneration other you. He took me to Orichen and we ended up attendin’ this fancy party. It was lovely.”

That made him pause. “You were with a previous regeneration and you stayed after I regenerated?” he asked surprised. Most humans had difficulties with the concept of regeneration. This was yet another aspect of her that proved she was….perceptive, empathic and possibly telepathic. And now she was his, meant to be his. He was having difficulty fighting against the part of him that wanted her as more than just a possession. It was more than that. He wanted her to want him, this him.

Rose smiled at his questioning look. “Yeah, you…um he…asked me stay after you regenerated. Granted, it was a lot to take in, him changing from all black leather, jeans and blue eyes to brown pinstripes, brown eyes and gorgeous hair.”

The Doctor unconsciously ran a hand through his hair. “You first traveled with this parallel me’s ninth incarnation then. Was this after the Time War in that universe?” he asked curious to learn of events in this other universe. He wanted to understand how she had come to travel with a parallel him and in turn what had happened to change her biology as well as learn how this parallel version of him and survived with no other Time Lords. 

She smiled sadly. “He never told me what regeneration it was. It was just after the Time War. The war weighed heavy on him and he was the last of his kind. He was angry, sad, bitter and didn’t want anything to do with anyone.”

“And yet, he took you with him,” he said contemplating what it would have been like to regenerate alone with all his people gone.

“He didn’t take me,” she lectured him and then her voice softened. “He asked. Twice if you want to know. We’d had a run in with the Autons and he saved me and then I saved him and well, guess he figured out maybe he needed someone with him. First trip, he took me to see the Earth burn. Nearly got killed by a flap of skin called Cassandra. Now that was a messed up human.”

The Doctor looked off out the window. “I was at the battle of Arcadia when I regenerated into my Ninth form. I was alone in my Tardis in he midst of a fierce battle,” he said slowly. “We lost the planet and many Tardis, Time Lords and Ladies.”

Rose could almost see darkness envelop him as he accessed the painful memories. He may not have lost his people in the war but he was just as damaged by the Time War as her Doctor. Then it occurred to her. He didn’t have anyone around to stop him and still didn’t. She walked up and put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

He turned to her, his eyes as black as a starless night. “I regenerated into this form at the end of the war when we enacted the final sanction. I along with a few other renegades were chosen. We used Gallifrey as bait to draw them in toward one final fierce battle. They accepted. Billions of Daleks swarmed the sector,” he said with fury in his eyes. “This is of course after they destroyed every species on every planet on the way there. By the time they arrived, we had evacuated as many of my people as we could.”

“Evacuate where?” Rose asked softly.

The Doctor turned to her, the Oncoming Storm brewing in his eyes. “The Void. We filled as many void ships as we could with our people, our history, everything that was us and we…” he stopped and swallowed hard. “We thrust them into the Void. Those of us that remained didn’t expect to survive.” He paced a bit and tugged at his hair in agitation before he continued “A diversion was created so they wouldn’t see anything amiss and then we turned the vortex against them, burned them and everything in the quadrant around Gallifrey and not just at that moment but throughout time and then we time locked it. A few of us were thrown free before the Time Lock closed. My Tardis was tumbled through time and space, burning. I regenerated in agony, not knowing if any of it worked or how many of my people survived.”

Rose was horrified. This story was similar to what she had gleaned from the bits and pieces her Doctor had told her. She continued to hold his arm and look at him sympathetically. “That isn’t the worst of it. You’ve been through the Void. You know what it’s like,” he said tonelessly but looking haunted and lost.

Rose had a sick feeling about what he was alluding to. “You lost of some of ‘em in the Void,” she whispered in horror.

“My family, my children were on one of those ships. Gone, lost to be devoured by the Void. The ships had beacons and that one wasn‘t functioning. I…I should have checked it before sending them off but I didn‘t. I was too busy planning the annihilation of the enemy,” he finished in dark almost vindictive tone.

Rose just wanted to hug him and did. He may not be her Doctor but she could see glimmers of him in this Doctor. She didn’t want him to feel so alone and desolate and poured herself into her embrace.

It took him a few seconds before he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her back. At first, he was shocked at the embrace and then he realized she was trying to empathize with him. He didn’t want her pity and pulled away. “You reek,” he said, trying not show how much he had really enjoyed the hug.

Rose pulled back and stared daggers at him as he casually brushed himself off. She was sure that deep down there was a decent Time Lord but that Time Lord was submersed under layer upon layer of a complete arsehole. “Well whadda ya expect? It’s not like you let me freshen up is it? As I recall you just shoved some clothes at me and told me to dress before hauling me off,” she snapped.

A slow smile emerged on his face. “All right. We’ll just have to get you cleaned up,” he said with a contemplative look on his face and a naughty twinkle in his eyes.

“Don’t even think of it!” Rose said, suspicious of his expression and what he had in mind.

“Oh, come now. I’m a Time Lord not some debased human. Time Lords are above that type of sordid behavior. We take pleasure in other…more sophisticated pursuits,” he said, sniffing in disdain. 

Although he may have been proclaiming being above physical desires, his eyes told Rose another story. When he looked at her with his dark, timeless eyes, there was something inherently attractive and seductive about him. This wasn’t the happy flirtatious behavior of her Doctor. This was something powerful and captivating, and it was making Rose feel things she knew were wrong. She kept repeating to herself that he was not her Doctor and she was just reacting to the physical similarities. Deep down, though, she felt a heat growing within her. As much as she denied it, it was still there. It had been a long time since she’d felt desire like this.

He directed her to an adjacent suite and bathroom with an enormous shower. Big, fluffy deep blue towels were stacked nearby. She turned to find him casually leaning against the door frame watching her. “What, you didn’t see enough of me the last time? You expect me to disappear down the drain or somethin?” she asked with more cockiness than she felt.

He smiled and looked her up and down. “Well, you are clever. I wouldn’t put it past you to try. I’ll just stay here and keep you company. Wouldn’t want you to get lonely.”

Rose gave him her best Jackie Tyler glare and walked toward the shower violently kicking her shoes off and grabbing a towel. She stepped into the shower, closing the glass door and finished undressing, draping the black jumpsuit and towel over the top of the door. Multiple jets turned on pounding her with delightfully warm water. She sighed as the water massaged tensed muscles from dealing with the stress of this situation and she reached for some bottles of soap. She inhaled and smiled. Paluran soap was something she used on the Tardis and was a welcome surprise as was the Toril shampoo. Afraid that if she took too long, he would come and haul her out, she wasted no time cleaning up. When she reached for the towel, it was gone. “Bastard,” she muttered under her breath as she slowly opened the door to find him standing outside with a cheeky smile and the towel held up for her.

“Warmed it up for you. Don’t want to chance you catching a cold. Well, at least not before you’ve finished explaining yourself to me,” he added quickly his eyes scanning over her as she stood before him dripping.

Rose stepped out and yanked the towel from him and wrapped herself in it. She had to admit it was nicely warmed for her. Still, she knew this was a control thing for him and she was damned if she was going to give him the satisfaction of looking pleased or comfortable. She picked up another towel, sat on a stool at a mirrored vanity and worked on drying her hair. He ambled over behind her and plucked the towel out of her hands.

He leaned and murmured, “I’ll take care of that.” Rose shivered involuntarily at the slight growl in his voice and the way his breath tickled her ear. He then proceeded to rub the towel on her head and hair, slowly and with precision. Rose involuntarily closed her eyes enjoying the sensation of him massaging her head. When she heard the whir of the sonic, her eyes popped open and she watched in shock and amazement as he dried her hair with it. Soon he pulled a brush out of his pocket and brushed her hair out. The Entire process took less than five minutes. She was stunned. 

“My way’s faster,” he said and looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Now then, go on and get dressed so we can settle down to eat and finish the conversation we started earlier,” he almost ordered as if Rose sitting naked before him had no effect on him. The truth was, he was very good at hiding how much he wanted her. The very scent of her was making him think about how he’d like do many things with her that did not involve eating dinner.

Rose looked off to the side to see a long form fitting dark blue dress with a low cut back with strips of fabric criss crossed in the back and a sweetheart neckline in the front hanging next to the vanity. She glared at him once over her shoulder and he smirked at her. 

“Dinner’s getting cold ya know,” he said as he watched her slip into the gown sans knickers and brassier which in his opinion were a waste of time. 

She turned around and crossed her arms defensively across her chest. He looked pointedly at the vanity that had shoes and jewelry on it. She sighed and held up the gold high-healed strappy sandals and looked at him. “Do ya have some kind of fetish ‘bout impractical shoes or somethin?”

“The harder for you to run away in and the easier for me to catch you,” he responded as he ambled over to stand next to her in front of the mirror.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Didn’t think a brilliant Time Lord like you was worried about catching an inferior human like me. Maybe you’re just out of practice after bein’ stuck here for so long.”

He pulled her hair back with a bit more force than necessary causing her to gasp, twisted it up and bound it with a gold comb with a circular design on it. She picked up a pendant which he swiftly plucked from her grasp and clasped around her neck while she attached the matching earrings which were made of several interlocking circles and dangled about her neck. She slipped on the sandals and admired the rose gold pendant which was also a series of circles intertwined. “This mean something?” she asked as she ran a finger over the circular design.

“It’s Gallifreyan,” he answered and pulled her from the dressing area and seated her at the table. It was dark now and the table was lit only with the twinkling stars above them, the glow of the city below them along with a few white candles which Rose recognized as being something from another world. He unveiled dinner, beef tips in wine sauce, purple carrots and chips. Rose completely ignored the intimate setting and was salivating as the delicious scent of food wafted up from the table. Her stomach growled noisily. He poured a decanter of a violet colored wine into a crystal goblet and sat down opposite her.

“Go on. Eat before you collapse,” he ordered.

Rose bit into a chip and almost groaned it was so good. She looked across the table at him and he was staring at her mouth. She licked her lips and looked away shyly before turning to face him again. “Thanks. How’d you know I like chips?”

He picked up his goblet and swirled the violet liquid which almost shimmered in the flickering candlelight. “I rule this world. I know everything that goes on. Especially when an interdimensional traveler pops by for chips,” he said, enunciating ‘pops’ and sipped his wine.

Rose took another bite and closed her eyes, exhaling her pleasure. “Well, they’re gorgeous. You can’t get chips like this back on the other parallel Earth.” She picked up the wine and sniffed it. “What’s this?”

“It’s a Gallifreyan wine.”

She looked across the table at him as she contemplated the wine.

“Don’t worry. It’s safe for human consumption,” he assured her as he sprinkled vinegar on his chips and bit into it savoring it as much as she had. Rose almost blushed as she watched his long lean fingers carry the chip from his plate to his mouth and then as he sucked each finger clean. She cursed him as she was sure he was doing it on purpose. Especially, with that cocky grin on his face afterward.

Rose sipped the wine. “Mmmm. It’s like an explosion of flavor on your tongue,” she noted. “So, you said you time locked everything in the Time War so how is there still….” she started to say before he abruptly interrupted her.

“We created a new star system and re-created Gallifrey. Time Lords are clever. Now, let’s talk about you,” he said sharply. “So you traveled with my parallel’s ninth incarnation. How’d he regenerate? Did you do it?”

Rose, who had been eating, swallowed hard and dropped her silverware with a clatter. “No! And he gave his life to save…well me. And before you ask, it was complicated,” Rose said, her eyes staring angrily at him, daring him to say anything more.

He sat back and tapped his fingers on the table. “I like complicated. I mean you are here with me right now so I think whatever complicated thing happened I’ll understand. So, what was it? Drowning, electrocution, falling from a tower, stabbed or poisoned maybe?”

“No. It was…” Rose started to say and hesitated. She took a large sip of wine and looked up at him, her eyes reflecting her turmoil. “It was the Daleks. Some of ‘em survived and made more of themselves. They were usin’ humans to make more of ‘em and they were mad. Their emperor thought he was God.”

The Doctor shot up straight. “You said parallel me killed everyone, Time Lords and Daleks. How could they survive?” he demanded.

Rose shook her head. “I don’t know and neither did he. It nearly drove him mad when he saw them.”

“What did he do?” the Doctor asked, seething a cold darkness.

Rose knew that she didn’t want to talk about this but maybe if she did, she could use it to her advantage. Maybe if she told him some of the truth and glossed over the rest, it would be enough. He’d already proven he could tell when she was lying so what choice did she have. “He was building a delta wave.”

The Doctor smiled slightly. “Good. That would have done it but I’m getting the feeling there’s more.”

“We were on a space station in orbit around Earth. It would have killed the Daleks, everyone on the station and the population on the planet.”

“He let them live!” the Doctor shouted jumping up with such force his chair tipped over. He then began to pace.

Rose sipped her wine for some liquid courage. “No, well…um sort of yes and no. He tricked me on to the Tardis and sent me home back to my time period.”

The Doctor turned and stared at her. “He didn’t want you to see it, to risk your life.”

“No,” she said softly, tears pooling in her eyes. “But, I couldn’t just let him die so I….went back.”

“How? I can’t imagine some… What century are you from?”

“Twenty first but that’s not important. The important part was that I asked the Tardis to take me back and she did. But, I sort of merged with the Tardis and when I got there I…I killed them.”

“What? The Daleks? All of them?” he asked, shocked.

“As many as I could find but bein’ joined with the Tardis was killin’ me so my Doctor took the power out of me and returned to the Tardis but…it killed him,” Rose said with a cracked voice.

“A human merging with a Tardis? What does that even mean?” He walked over to her and gently tipped her chin up as he gazed down into her eyes. “That should be impossible. And he pulled what exactly out of you that regenerated him into me?” he asked softly. 

Rose pulled away from him. “I don’t know. I don’t remember much. I just know I woke up and he regenerated. He had regeneration sickness for a bit after and wasn’t real keen on talking about it.”

“Maybe he wasn’t keen on talking about it ‘cos he did something to you. Perhaps he was making improvements. You know, out with the old model and in with the new.”

That was it for Rose. She was tired of his snarky attitude and digs at her Doctor. Maybe it was frustration from all the failed trips through Void and ending up in the wrong parallel universe or maybe it was dealing with his arrogance and controlling demeanor. Or, maybe it was years of pent-up frustration with her own Doctor, waiting too long to say what needed to be said but Rose Tyler lost it. She jumped up and went toe to toe with this git of a Time Lord.

“Now you listen to me!” she shouted and stabbed him in the chest with her index finger to make her point. “I’ve had it with you! Mr. “I’m a Time Lord” and king of all time and space! You don’t know my Doctor or what a good person he is! He sacrificed so much for so many people, so many worlds and no one even says thank you! He does it all because it’s right. When’s the last time you did something just ‘cos it was right and not to get somethin? You and your Time Lord friends are doin’ nothing’ but trying to strangle this universe. Whadda you think’s gonna happen here? Do you really think it’ll work? Cos I gotta say, I’ve been to lots of parallel worlds and seen what can happen. No one can control everything!”

He stood there watching her eyes flash gold with her anger and indignation as she jabbed him in the chest. At first he was irritated but as she kept going he could feel her all around him. Her timelines crackled as she let loose. It fascinated, terrified and aroused something in him he had tossed aside long ago. She was wrong about so many things but had a grain of wisdom tucked away in her ranting. Uncommon Rose was a rebel filled with potential and he wanted her more than anything.

He grabbed her wrist to stop the constant chest thumping. “That’s enough,” he said in a deceptively calm voice. 

She wrested her wrist away from him. “I’ll say when it’s enough. Oh you are so much like him! You sit up here in this tower makin’ decisions for other people instead of lettin’ us make own choices! Is this something you lot are born with or is there a class in Time Lord school that teaches you how to be a pompous, controlling, rude, know it all git!”

Rose was breathing heavy and her adrenalin was pumping not to mention she might have been a tad high on Gallifreyan wine. The Doctor was angry, aroused and totally beguiled by her and shoved her against the table so that she reached out to grab his coat so she didn’t fall backwards.

He leaned in until he was millimeters from her face. “What. Did. You. Say?” he asked in a dangerously low voice, his eyes dark and passionate.

Rose gazed into his eyes and felt something inside herself snap. She could feel him calling to her on some unfathomable level and she wanted to answer it. All differences between two Doctors disintegrated as she felt him hold her against the table with his body as his fingers trailed down her bare back his thumb drawing sensual designs across her skin.

“I…I said I’m tired of this attitude of yours. I’m not anyone’s possession,” she said nervously, fear and desire creating a potent cocktail of hormones and mixed with whatever Time Lord abilities he was using on her just about sent her over the edge.

“Oh, but you’ve always been mine, are mine and always will be mine whether or not you realize it,” he said in that soft and sexy voice that only he had. He leaned further into her until his lips brushed up against hers, his tongue darting out and gently caressing her bottom lip until he felt her respond. As soon as he sensed her quick inhale and slight moan in the back of her throat, he let go of his restraint. He leaned against her his hips brushing against her pinning her securely to the table and pressing his lips against hers, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth taking his time and yet pushing her for more. Soon, he was aggressively kissing her taking his time yet demanding more and more as she succumbed to his advances.

Rose felt his mouth dominate hers. Oh how she ached for his kiss. So full of power and passion and it was all for her. Her mouth opened of its own volition and he thrust his tongue in and continued to plunder what he claimed as his. She moaned and her arms slipped around him and she clawed into his back frustrated that he had so many layers between them. She vaguely heard dishes flying and glass breaking as he lifted her up on the table and hitched her thigh up around his hip.

He ground into her and groaned into her mouth holding her firmly to him, her back against the hard table top. Heat was pooling at her core and the universe could go to Hell for all she cared. It had been way too long since she surrendered to passion and her desire for the Doctor had been simmering for years. He tasted wondrous and his lips were soft and persuasive. Those clever fingers were gliding up her thigh and she was wet with anticipation. It was almost like he was stroking something in her mind, stoking her desire and she felt some essence that she only knew as Doctor all around her.

Just as she heard a delightful rip as fabric was shoved out of the way, a voice rang out.

“Really Doctor. And what method of interrogation is this? Certainly not one sanctioned by the High Council,” a female Time Lord’s voice rang out.

The Doctor regretfully and slowly stood up leaving Rose splayed across the table. He turned to the Time Lady and arched a brow at her. “Has anyone told you, Rani, that you have rubbish timing?”


	5. Chapter 5

The Rani was not your typical Time Lady. Like the Doctor, she was disinclined to fall into step with all the other Time Lords and Ladies. She did not agree with the present policies and politics now in place. The Doctor had known her from their days at the academy and at one point considered her a friend and perhaps more than a friend. That, however, was long ago and many centuries had passed since that time, during which they had both changed. They were now very different people, each with their own ethical standards. If it weren’t for the war, the Rani would more than likely be held in stasis for violation of Time Lord laws, such as detrimental interference with primitive societies resulting in pronounced alteration of such species’ genetic evolution for her own gain. She was a scientist who liked to perform genetic experiments on less advanced species. Her methods were considered by many unethical and there was that one incident where she destroyed an entire civilization through a genetic manipulation experiment. She had no remorse and took the position that advances in science required such sacrifices. The Time Lord high council did not agree with her.

After the war, she was on the Time Lord version of probation, not unlike the Doctor and many other rebel Time Lords who were instrumental in ending the Time War. Part of her duties included overseeing the various Time Lord research teams deployed on various planets throughout time and space. Upon hearing about a human who could regenerate a Time Lord at will, she quickly made her way to Earth to see this creature for herself.

The Rani looked from the rumpled Doctor with his dress shirt untucked and partially unbuttoned, his black tie with silver swirls across it askew and then back to Rose, lying breathless on the table, her dress hitched up and ripped. “Well Doctor? What is the meaning of this?” the Rani asked in a condemning tone.

Rose sat up, pulling the skirt of her dress down and making sure she was covered. She looked over at the Time Lady and assessed her. The Rani appeared middle aged with a look of cold disdain on her face, her long curly brown hair held back away from her face by an ornate gold head band. She wore burgundy trousers with brown boots and a matching burgundy coat with gold detailing, puffy sleeves and raised collar around her neck. Rose’s first impression was that the Rani was a typical pompous and arrogant Time Lord. 

When the Rani’s eyes met Rose’s, Rose immediately felt intense dislike for her. There was something predatory in the Rani’s gaze and Rose’s inner wolf responded to it. It was as if a part of her subconscious was triggered and she could see the Rani, all she had done and was outraged. Telepathic shields strengthened and Rose almost vibrated with some new inner strength along with an overwhelming need to protect the Doctor.

The Rani must have seen something in Rose as she quickly directed her attention back to the Doctor. “She should be in containment and examined by scientists with less…attachment. You obviously have had your objective examination of this being compromised. Have you forgotten she regenerated four Time Lords? Really, Doctor, perhaps you’re losing your touch after being banished amongst these humans for so long. You used to be much more selective of who you befriended, especially amongst those who you are charged with overseeing.”

The Doctor stiffened. “She’s mine to do with as I please and right now, it pleases me to have her with me. This is my world and I am the final authority here. No one swans in and tells me what to do, least of all you. Now I believe the necessary bureaucracy was already delivered to you so why are you here?” he asked, annoyed at her presence.

“I will not have this discussion before a potentially dangerous creature. Especially, one that appears to be manipulating you,” the Rani stated, glancing back at Rose who was staring at the Rani with animosity.

The Doctor smiled, shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heals. “Awww don’t be jealous, Rani. I mean, just because I’m engaged in an intimate interrogation of a powerful being you’d love to get your hands on is no reason to be rude. Besides, you should know by now that I’m not going to let any human, even one as unique as Rose, control me. And, is that a slight look of fear in your eyes? Maybe you should be afraid. I don’t think Rose likes you. Especially, not the way you’re insulting her.”

“Enough! Either you subdue her or I will! We have much to discuss and I have no tolerance for your arrogance or perpetual banal repartee,” the Rani snapped at him.

Rose watched this exchange with unease. This Rani was trouble and she could tell the Doctor wanted to be rid of her and not just to continue what she and the Doctor had been doing earlier. Rose paused. What had she been about to do with him? Memories of his lips against hers, his taste, scent and the feel of his hands on her were still fresh in her mind as well as the overwhelming desire that had consumed her. As much as she felt guilt and worried that she had betrayed her Doctor for feeling so attracted to this one, a part of her was regretting they had been interrupted. The inner conflict within her was making her question all of the decisions she’d made in revealing information to this Doctor, in allowing him to get so close.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was growing progressively more annoyed at the Rani. Although his initial plans for Rose did not involve indulging his own physical pleasure, and he was quite ready to do that several times if need be, he couldn’t help but refuse to let Rose out of his sight. It had been a long time since he felt so engaged and riveted by someone. Rose was special in more ways than just having unusual genetics or possible temporal talents. She was strong and fierce but tempered by an overwhelming compassion that reminded him of who he was long ago. He walked over to Rose. “You need to sleep,” he announced without preamble and placed his fingers to her temple.

“No!” Rose called out fighting the slight pressure he was placing on her mind. “You don’t get to…” she mumbled before falling into darkness and slumber.

The Doctor caught her as she collapsed and carried her over to a sitting area and gently laid her on a sofa, caressing her and whispering soothing words into her temple, promising he wouldn’t be far away. He turned abruptly to the Rani. “Well?” he barked at the Rani’s smirking face.

*****************

Rose found herself lying on the grating of the Tardis. She gasped and sat up, noticing how different things appeared. The Coral was a slightly different shade, a touch more orange to it. The Console had fewer odd bits and bobs than she was accustomed to seeing and was a polished coral. The bicycle pump was gone as was the snow globe and the light from the time rotor shined orange and yellow instead of blue or green. Even the Tardis hum was off.

Dressed back in her jeans, purple shirt and blue leather jacket, she walked around trailing her fingers on the console. It even smelled different, although not exactly foreign. The odd thing was even though it wasn’t her Doctor’s Tardis, she felt safe here. She stopped as she remembered what had happened, the stars going out, the parallel world and the Doctor who was not her Doctor and what she had almost done with that Doctor. The humming in the Tardis increased in rhythm and intensity, almost chastising. Rose looked up at the time rotor. “What? You tryin’ to tell me somethin? I mean the way my life’s been goin’ lately, wouldn’t surprise me that you would be,” she said worriedly as she focused on a flashing light on the console. 

A monitor flashed on and Rose walked around to look at it. The words “Bad Wolf” were floating across of it. Rose ghosted her fingers across the monitor and looked up at the time rotor. “Why are you showin’ this to me? I don’t understand. Bad Wolf has always been a way for me to find him but he’s not here. Sparks flashed and Rose jumped back. She rubbed her fingers on her jeans and glared at the time rotor. “Fine, I get it. I’m bein’ a stupid ape and should get it, but I’m not. It’s a bit confusin’ with two Doctors. They’re so alike but still so different. Both of ‘em are in so much pain from the Time War. One is lonely 'cos he lost everyone and one is lonely 'cos he’s exiled and lost his family. One bears it all and keeps it all in while the other one doesn’t hesitate to lash out. I think…I think they both need someone to stop ‘em.”

The monitor suddenly flashed on and Rose saw the Doctor and the Rani talking.

“You should give her to me. She needs to be studied. Only Rassilon had the ability to regenerate a Time Lord at will and even then only using his staff to channel the of the Eye of Harmony. Think of what we could do if we unlock that kind of power,” the Rani said, her eyes glittering, edging on madness.

The Doctor hadn’t said much. He stood rigidly staring at the Rani as she ranted. Finally he stepped up to her. “No. Rose is mine and I’m not sharing her with anyone. If there is anything to be learned about who and what she is, I’ll be doing it. She is unique and brilliant and I won’t allow you and your rather unethical and dodgy methods to destroy her in your quest to procure some nebulous genetic code to make yourself more powerful.”

The Rani looked at him and smiled coldly. “Well, well look at this. The great Doctor, battle commander leading the charge at Arcadia, Defender of the Gate of Elysium, the Oncoming Storm, Ka Faraq Gatri now conquered by one little Earth girl.”

The Doctor, who had been looking bored, snapped to attention, and loomed over the Rani, his eyes, a black pit of fury and leashed violence. “Don’t you lecture me!” he said in a tight, livid voice. “You who cowered in your laboratory while many Time Lords and Ladies died defending our people and the universe from the Daleks. What did you do? Nothing until forced into service. You were too busy hiding all those illegal and unethical projects hoping to gain an upper hand after the war. You lost the right to even speak to me when you ran from the Skaro Degradations and the Horde of Travesties while younger more inexperienced Time Lords stood and held the line so the innocent could escape. You’re lucky to have the freedom you do have.

“No, you don’t get to lecture me. No one conquers me, least of all Rose. Quite the contrary, I find her not only fascinating, complex and challenging but also capable of reason. Oh yes, and most accommodating,” he said, smirking a bit at the end.

“Git,” Rose muttered under her breath at his comment as she continued to observe.

The Doctor took a menacing step closer to the Rani who took a step back away from him, obviously seeing the underlying threat in his eyes. “I will do as I please with her. If anyone will unlock her mysteries, it will be me, in my way and as I see fit. Anything else?” he asked with a soft, dangerous voice.

The Rani straightened and tried to gain the upper hand “Well, you have changed. You used to not care about anything but doing what you had to get off this rock and wallowing in your own self pity. Suddenly, you’re willing to fight for this girl. And what of Gallifrey and Lord Omicrex’s latest proposal?”

Rose watched as the Doctor pulled out his sonic and activated it. “Mind what you say, Rani. Gallifrey is here as much as it is at home. I’m aware of the latest proposal and that not everyone agrees with it. Omicrex controls the Celestial Intervention Agency and is using intimidation to swing things his way. He wants the power to wipe out species he deems undesirable. He’s mad and wants to recreate the universe. Romana won’t be able to stop him and is in danger of losing her own position. He wouldn’t hesitate to intimidate the council to remove her as President.”

“The girl could help us She’s powerful. If we harness her power, we could stop them and take Gallifrey back from those isolationist old fools and free ourselves from stale and overly restrictive laws.”

The Doctor, who had paced away from her mad ranting and had been looking out the window at the London skyline deep in thought, whipped back to glare at the Rani. He thought about Rose and everything she was doing, all that she was sacrificing to save everyone, not just her planet. She risked her life over and over thrusting herself through the Void, never knowing what she might find on the other side. He would chalk it up to human courage and perseverance but he felt it was more than that. It was who she was and it made him think about his own people and what they had become and would become under Omicrex. Just hearing the Rani talk about murdering their own people gave him flashbacks to the war and death and violence they all lived with. His people were higher life forms, brilliant and one of the oldest species in the universe. They were better than this.

“That’s your answer! Assassination, murder anyone in our way? Use Rose and any other species we deem less important as weapons or tools? Start a new war? And what then? Make the universe over in our image instead of in Omicrex’s? How does that make us any better?” he lectured, now pacing back and forth and tugging at his hair in aggravation. “No, as much as I hate what’s happening, I won’t just plow through and kill the lot of them even if they deserve it. We need to take away their ability to control the council. Romana is a fair leader and a good President. We just need to giver her a hand. She can’t be seen to favor one side over another which leaves it to us on the outside, those who have traveled the universe and interacted with other species. We’re clever, problem solvers and we think outside of the box as the humans say. That lot on Gallifrey are still mostly the old guard repeating things that have been done for over a millennia, fighting any changes and wanting to keep things boring, stagnant and repressed We have the advantage.”

“Don’t be so soft and foolish!” the Rani admonished. “In the war you know what had to be done and you did it, damning the consequences! If this planet were under attack you’d do whatever is necessary to protect it and now you won’t even extend the same courtesy to Gallifrey!”

Rose watched as the Doctor turned on the Rani and her breath caught as she was sure he was going to hit her. Then, a Tardis dematerialized nearby which seemed to defuse the situation slightly. It appeared as a large black cabinet and out if it walked a tall raven haired woman dressed as some type of futuristic pirate with tight brown trousers, boots, a loose white blouse with a multicolored waistcoat and black pirate hat with a long white feather embellishing it.

“Corsair!” the Doctor called out, grinning, his previous fury gone. The Rani made an unhappy face. The Doctor and Corsair were old friends and had gotten into plenty of mischief together. The Rani disliked both of them and their cavalier attitudes.

“Doctor! You old scoundrel you!” the Corsair called out in a loud boisterous voice. She then turned to the Rani. “Rani, why am I not surprised to see you skulking about. Come to see the Doctor’s new treasure have you?” She turned back to the Doctor. “And, from what I hear, she really is quite a jewel, sparkles so brightly they see it all the way on Gallifrey.”

The Rani looked concerned at this comment and the Doctor’s smile faltered. “Corsair, you’re looking a bit more feminine than the last time I saw you. Trouble?”

“Oh you know how it goes,” the Corsair said, waving her hand like it was nothing. “Interrupted a revolution on Poosh and fell off a cliff. Thought I’d try something new for a change. Have to admit the new appendages have been a bit handy when I needed to bluff my way into a place,” she said and proudly and patted her rather ample bosom. The Rani rolled her eyes.

“Uh, well it suits you,” the Doctor said, tugging at his ear. “I mean, not that you weren’t a lovely bloke before.”

Rose turned to the Time Rotor. “Wait, are they saying she was a he and regenerated? Time Lords can change their sex!” Rose said, her voice pitched in confusion. The Tardis just hummed along. Rose muttered, “Blimey, he’s gonna have to explain that one to me. Nice to have a heads up this time.” She turned back and watched more of the interaction. She learned that the Corsair came to warn the Doctor that the Time Lords weren’t happy with how he’d been running Earth and that he was giving humans too many liberties. They wanted a genetic alteration program that he was overseeing expedited. That comment alone more than irked Rose. Mucking about with human DNA was wrong and she intended on telling him that.

More concerning, however, was that the Time Lords seemed intent on removing the Doctor from power on Earth and escorting him back to his planet for further interrogation and confiscating her for further study. Apparently, they’d already arrested some renegade Time Lord called the Master and were intent on retrieving any Time Lords they deemed as rebels, defiant, or who were sympathetic to other species.

Somehow when Rose heard the phrase “further study” in relation to her, it made her think of dissection. Although she was fearful for herself, she couldn’t help but be more worried for Earth and the Doctor not to mention how this was all impeding her original mission. She still had vanishing stars to think about. She also didn’t like the sound of what they would do the Doctor during this interrogation which her instincts told her meant imprisonment. He may be banished here, but at least he had freedom to move about. 

She turned to the Tardis console. “He can’t just take you and leave can he?” she asked. The time rotor rose and fell almost in acknowledgement. “But, there must be something we can do to free you?” Again, the ship seemed to respond and “Bad Wolf” flashed across the screen. Rose saw those words and began pacing contemplating everything that had happened here. It was no accident that she landed in this universe. That was becoming clear to her. The significance of this and her growing feelings for this Doctor could not be avoided. She laid a hand on the console. “There’s not much time is there, girl,” she whispered and felt a warmth in her mind in response.

Rose turned back to the monitor to hear more as she tried to come up with various scenarios of what she could do and what could happen. The group appeared to be in a fierce debate but she couldn’t hear them anymore. She thumped on the monitor but the images were fading. Soon the Tardis grew dark and Rose felt herself drifting away. When she opened her eyes, she was laying on a sofa in the Doctor’s office. He was standing at his desk staring at the images quickly flashing by. She yawned and blinked at him.

“You knocked me out,” she accused softly and without anger.

He looked over at her, his eyes traveling up and down her prone form still dressed in the slinky blue dress. “It was necessary,” he said, feigning a casual attitude.

“You could’ve asked me first,” Rose answered him. She was still quite affected by the dream she had and which she was quickly realizing was far more than a dream. As she sat up, she looked toward the Tardis in the corner. “Why haven’t you taken the Tardis and run?”

He snorted. “It’s not that easy. I’m grounded. They have her locked onto these coordinates. She can’t move even if she wanted.”

“If you could leave, would you?” Rose asked.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s impossible,” he told her, his voice filled with aggravation as one particular image appeared to annoy him. He picked up a water glass and hurled it against a wall shattering it.

“Feel better?” Rose asked as he paced back and forth. He glared at her.

The double doors opened and four Time Lords entered. They looked at Rose with the slightest fear in their eyes. The Doctor picked up some crystals that had appeared on his desk and walked over to them. “Lords, Karantopbloa and Ashnu and Ladies Lindanie and Stephanoupkoa, thank you for coming.” He noticed them looking at Rose and smiled slightly. “I promise you Rose won’t harm you.”

Rose’s eyes widened as she realized these were the Time Lords she had somehow regenerated. She stood up abruptly and the Time Lords nervously took a step back. “No, wait, I’m sorry,” she said. “I mean, I didn’t know what I was doin’ and I guess I just felt threatened and….well, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt you on purpose.”

The Doctor looked at her amused and a slightly more prominent smile appeared on his face before he turned back to the Time Lords. “Things are about to get sticky. They’re coming for me and you know what that means. I want you out of here and safe. There’s no telling what they’ll do if they find you here.”

Lady Stephanoupkoa stepped forward. “And Earth? What’s to come of it?”

The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t know. They want the genetics program pushed ahead which means they want this planet contained. It won’t just stop with Earth either.”

“We can’t let this happen. It’s not ethical!” Lord Ashnu said. 

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. “There’s not much I can do, the humans are on their own.

“No,” Rose said taking a step forward. “You lot could help.” She turned pleading eyes on the Doctor who stared at her before scrubbing his face with his hands and sighing.

“I suppose you might be able to help. You could work with the humans to fight this. Spread the word to other planets and other Time Lords sympathetic to our cause. They’ll take me but the idea, what we’ve started here can live on,” he told them almost like he couldn’t believe he was saying this.

“We can’t just abandon you,” Lady Lindanie said.

“Don’t worry about me. Been through a lot I have. I survived the war and I’ll survive this. Now go, all of you and quickly.” The Time Lords left and Rose walked up to him. This was what she had been looking for beneath that angry exterior. He may be rough and acted more violently than her Doctor but he still cared.

He turned to her. “Don’t look at me like that!” he said angrily and began pacing like a caged animal. “This is all your fault! If you hadn’t come here then we would’ve had more time, made more progress. Now look at us! About to be dragged back to Gallifrey for interrogation and buried under layers of bureaucracy until no one can find us and they lock us away in….” he started to rant.

“Then don’t let them,” Rose answered simply.

He whipped around and stood toe to toe with her, angry and seething in resentment. “It’s not that simple!” he almost shouted glaring at her. “You come here all shiny and powerful, like everything can just be fixed in a snap of the fingers. You stand there taunting me and making me feel like…”

“Like what?” Rose asked, crossing her arms and ready to do battle.

“Like caring!” he shouted. “Bloody hell, but you had to swan into this world being so compassionate and making me talk about things best left in the past, spouting off about parallel universes and some pompous perfect Doctor,” he sneered. He turned on her “Well I’m not him! I’m not going to stand by and let Daleks or any other species invade this planet. If I had to kill half the planet to stop them and save the species, I’d do it! So don’t look at me and think I’m him. I’m not!”

Rose winced at his analogy but didn’t take it quite as personally as before. He was lashing out, frustrated at what was happening. “I know you’re not him!” she said forcefully.

He walked up to her forcing her back until she was backed against a wall. “Do you?” he asked in deadly soft voice. “Do you really?”

“Yes I do. You’ve got your own problems and it’s made you your own man. “Maybe if you had met parallel me, you wouldn’t have been so alone here. You could’ve had someone to hold your hand.”

“Hold my hand?” he asked sarcastically. “Like that would help.”

“Sometimes all you need is a hand to hold. So, you don’t feel alone, to keep you grounded. Maybe you should look up and see if there’s a Rose Tyler here?”

“Rose Tyler?” he asked. “That’s your full human name,” he whispered thoughtfully, then he looked deep into her eyes. “Even if there is a Rose Tyler here, she wouldn’t be you,” he said forcefully.

She gazed into his eyes, finally seeing past the anger and hurt to the passionate Time Lord beneath. This was something she had glimpsed in her Doctor’s eyes but that he would quickly hide from her. Her Doctor was always hiding things or distracting her away from who and what he was. She always believed he loved her and she loved him but it was a line neither of them crossed. This Doctor wasn’t hesitating to cross it and was aggressively direct. He was being honest about his desire.

“Rose Tyler, my uncommon Rose,” he said in a growling passion filled voice. 

“Doctor,” she answered back in her breathless voice and he slammed into her, pinning her against the wall, his mouth on hers, hungry and forceful. Rose snogged him back just as hard, her arms wrapped around him and one hand gripping his hair. He shoved his hips against her, grinding her into the wall and she moaned, wrapping one of her legs around his.

He pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes. “No more interruptions!” he said in that dead sexy growl that curled her toes.

“What about the Rani and Corsair and those Time Lords? They’re comin’ for us?” He gave her a quizzical look. “Sorry, your Tardis may have helped me eavesdrop a bit while I was asleep. I sort of heard everything.”

He arched a brow at her. “We’ll talk about that later. As for the Corsair and Rani, they can amuse themselves and the Time Lords…they can piss off for all I care. I’m having this, now here with you! If I have to wallow in some detention cell, at least I can have this memory!” With that he whipped out his sonic aimed it at the doors and then tossed it and his jacket aside. 

He shoved her hard back against the wall with a thump, staring into her eyes, his hearts racing. His kiss was passionate and demanding and Rose wanted it that way. They pulled and tugged at each other, devouring each other with hands grasping, tugging and ripping fabric. Buttons went flying, her dress fluttered to the floor in a pool of dark blue silk. She moaned rubbing her now naked body against his still clothed one and continued tearing at his clothing. His trainers were carelessly toed off, his trousers and pants shoved down while she ripped his undershirt off of him. He hefted her leg around his hip and pinned her against the wall, pressing his forehead against hers.

“Tell me you want me!” he demanded. “Me! Not him! Tell me you want this me!” he commanded her.

Tears pooled in her eyes as she realized she did want this him. “I want you! This you. The Time Lord who is protectin’ this world, who is so much more…” She paused. “That is so much more brilliant than his people know. I want the one who sees me and talks to me and says what he feels. Tell me you want this ‘cos of us and what we are, right here, right now!”

His answer was to growl, pulling open her legs and roughly thrust into his warm, wet Rose. She moaned yes and clawed into his back and bit his shoulder gasping as he moved inside of her. This was going to be wild, passionate and rough but she reveled in that. Tender could come later. She needed and wanted it to be like this, urgent, hot and hard. 

She wrapped herself around him feeling all his muscles tensing and contracting where she touched him. Her still sandaled clad feet dug the heels of the shoes into his back side encouraging him onward. Her body moved against him, grinding, trying to gain more friction and meld with him while he slammed her against the wall with each thrust sliding in and out of her as she clenched around him continuing at a frantic pace as if he couldn’t get deep enough inside of her.

He grunted “My Rose” with each powerful movement he made gripping her hard enough to leave bruises Rose didn’t care and left her own marks on him as their flesh slapped against one another and they thumped against the wall, perspiration slicking their skin.

As they each muttered against one another licking, sucking, grasping and thrusting, something more happened. The Doctor felt her telepathic barriers drop and he dove into her mind. He was surrounded by warmth and emotion and time and Rose. Combined with the physical pleasure, it was intense and made him want her even more. He felt her timeline and many other timelines wrapped around and through her. He telepathically sought out the essence of her and caressed her causing both of them to shudder with pleasure but it was more than that. He saw her past, present and potential future. He saw Bad Wolf turning Daleks to dust, his brave Rose saving her Time Lord over and over again, the burgeoning love flaring to life within her and a promise of forever. He also saw the painful separation, the anguish, a goodbye on a cold lonely beach and how she rebuilt herself and grew stronger. 

What could be for her was not as clear but one possibility shined bright to him and angered him. No, he thought. He wouldn’t let that happen. She was his. He felt himself and her coming to completion and nestled himself into her mind as much as he had her body not willing to let go of this. How could he let go of her after this.

Rose gasped as she felt something powerful flutter through her mind and knew it was him. She called out “Yes!” and tightened around him, mentally embracing the feel of him in her mind as much as in her body. The heat between them grew in intensity as the sound of him frantically slamming into her increased. She was so close and then he touched something inside of her and she felt a fire roar through her as body spasmed against him. She screamed as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her and he spilled himself into her, shouting out in his own language.

Rose swore she blacked out at the intensity and when she looked at him he had the biggest cockiest grin she’d ever seen. “You think you’re so impressive,” she finally said with a grin of her own.

He waggled his eyebrows at her and swept her up, swooping down to pick up his sonic and then carried her across the room and marched them both naked down the hall almost proclaiming what they had done as they made their way toward his bedroom. Rose just watched him, noticing how much more relaxed he looked although he never lost that dark intensity in his eyes and wasn’t surprised when he tossed her on a large bed.

They spent many more hours touching, tasting and exploring each other. He was both aggressive and tender at the same time, not afraid to tell her what he wanted or how much he wanted her, constantly calling her his Rose. She drowsed off curled up against him as he gazed down at her, gently tracing his fingers down her shoulders and back.

He watched her sleep for a bit before quietly disentangling himself. He felt her in his mind now, nestled away content and happy. Thoughts of their present Time Lord predicament and her mission to save the multiverse darkened his thoughts. Their time lines were inextricably entwined but that might not be permanent. Turbulent times were ahead for both of them. Choices needed to be made that would alter the course of more than just this universe. His emotions were in turmoil as he thought of the possibilities of losing her to the Time Lords here, to another universe or to his parallel self.

“No!” he shouted internally. He had lost too much already. No more. She was his now and he would fight for her. His parallel self might act the martyr and under some foolish self hatred let her go, but he wouldn’t. He’d do whatever he had to, no matter the cost. With that thought in mind he quickly dressed and left to do what must be done.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter - Rose has to make a decision. Angsty!

Rose stretched out on the large bed with black silken linens and winced as few sore muscles twinged. Memories of the cause of her discomfort surfaced and she opened her bleary, sleepy eyes. “Oh,” she thought to herself and sat up and looked around the empty room. The walls were a soft gray color with very little other furnishings and everything appeared to be quite modern and unused. At first, she was a little miffed that he’d left her to wake up alone but that was shortly followed by a feeling of relief. She still hadn’t quite processed that she’d had sex with the Doctor. No, not just sex. Hot, hard, fantastic sex.

Then, the other shoe dropped. They had sex and there were Time Lords on the way to take them both back to Gallifrey as prisoners or worse, and then there was a little matter of the stars going out that needed to be solved. Any other feelings she was having regarding this Doctor and her other Doctor were now shoved to the side. First things first. She needed to get clean, get dressed and find the Doctor. They needed to talk and make a plan. She stopped half way to the door she hoped led to the loo. She snorted aloud and wondered what she was thinking. When did the Doctor ever plan anything? She sighed and spotted clothing stacked on chair. She scooped them up and went to shower.

She took a few moments to enjoy the pounding spray. Under the water she did not think about the bruises he had left on her, marking her as his, or the sensitive twinges between her legs evidencing the passionate night she spent, but in the end she decided not to linger. She quickly toweled herself off and dressed in the clothes he had set aside for her. Rose sighed as she thought about what a controlling git he was. As she shimmied into the faded black denim jeans, pulled on the Tardis blue lace top which accentuated her cleavage and pulled on the tight leather jacket, it did occur to her that he could have left her naked. Outside, she found knee high black boots that laced up the front. She muttered about impractical shoes until she stood up in them. “Bigger on the inside!” she exclaimed happily and then jumped up and down in them realizing they would be perfect for running.

There was nothing left to do but find him. She hesitated slightly as she wondered what version of him she would find. Would he be the cold, brutal prat she first met? The arrogant condescending overlord or would he be the passionate man who was showing a glimmer of hope in his eyes. She started walking toward the door and turned back once to look at the bed where they had spent hours exploring each other’s bodies and what made the other gasp in pleasure. Few words had been spoken but through touch both physical and telepathic, he had made clear how he felt. Rose nervously ran a hand through her hair as she thought about what had happened. Some part of her wondered about words not spoken and how it might have been nice to hear them spoken aloud. Another part of her seemed content with his actions and telepathic expression and how that might be even better than words. 

Thinking about this made her wonder if perhaps she was as different as he said and there was something alien about her now that just accepted things on some different level. Her mum’s words before Canary Wharf rang in her mind about how she was changing and one day who would Rose Tyler be but some alien woman walking in some off world market. Rose walked over to a mirror and stared at herself. There it was in her eyes. You wouldn’t know unless you were looking for it, but her eyes were different now. There was a sparkle of something not quite human, along with something more; pain, knowledge of things no human should know and perhaps a bit of time. But, she was still human too and that human part of her needed to hear the words as an affirmation that what she believed was true. The question then became which Doctor did she want to say those words to her and how could she ever choose.

She stepped away from the mirror and noticed something else. The silver bracelet he had slapped on her wrist to keep track of her was gone. He was trusting her not to run. Rose touched her wrist gently and couldn’t help but smile. She needed to find him. Rose strode purposefully from the room and made her way through the empty halls of the building. She had no idea where she was going but something was pulling her forward. Eventually, she found herself in a laboratory.

It was empty but she instinctually knew she needed to be here and began exploring. It was white, sterile and filled with scientific equipment tables of alien test tubes, Petri dishes and various other things she had no idea what they did. Toward the end of the room was a long white pod with a frosted glass cover over it. Something was in there, something important. Every instinct in her was screaming at her to open it and yet another part of her was telling her to run. Slowly she ran in fingers over the edge until she came to a control panel. She barely touched the controls when the lid dematerialized.

Rose gasped and stepped back. Within the pod was her duplicate wearing the clothes she was wearing when she arrived in this world. “No,” she whispered, fearful, angry and horrified.

The Doctor casually strolled in on the other side of the pod and she looked up at him. He was back in his dark gray pinstripe and black coat, his armor. “What have you done!” she demanded, trembling with anger.

“What has to be,” he answered simply.

“Wadda you mean what has to be! Cos from where I’m standin’ it looks creepy and horrid! That’s…that’s me in there! But…its not ‘cos I’m here! Is that parallel me from this world? What have you done to her!” she shouted. Emotions were pouring through her. She had felt a certain happiness earlier even if it was laced with some worry. Now, she was horrified, scared and angry. Why would he do this? What was he even thinking? Did he plan to send her duplicate off and keep her or vice versa? Part of her was hurt that he was ready to chuck her out and part of her was jealous of the Rose that might get to stay here with him. If he thought he was going to make some decision for her rather than let her decide, he was dead wrong.

“There is no parallel Rose here. She was never born,” he answered with little emotion.

Rose stared at him still for a while trying to compose herself. “There…there was no Rose in the universe I’ve been living in either.” She then looked back down at her duplicate. “Pete married Jackie but they never had me. They had some stupid dog and were unhappy. His Jackie was cyberized. When he came to my home universe and saw mum, it was like some fairy tale. It took time but they’re happy now,” she said softly, thinking about her mum and wondering if she would see her again.

“There is a Pete and Jackie in this world. They have a son named Tony. I suppose they’re happy. He owns a few shops that sell organic goods and they live in the country,” the Doctor explained, watching her. After leaving Rose, he had worked at a furious pace, looking for any signs of a Rose Tyler in this world even though he was sure she wouldn’t exist here. He had been filled with a cold determination that he would not lose his Rose and would do anything to keep her.

Rose nodded her head, still staring at her double. The Doctor watched as she absorbed this information. He wanted her to understand what this meant. “It’s no accident that there is no Rose in these two universes. In fact, there is no Rose in any other universe. There’s just you.”

Rose looked up at him shocked and frightened. “What do you mean? You can’t be sure! And what about her,” Rose said, pointing to the Rose in the capsule. “Where’d she come from?”

He looked down at the unconscious Rose. He swallowed hard. “She’s sort of a clone,” he said, walking around the pod, toward his Rose.

“A clone? How is she sorta a clone?” Rose demanded, clenching her fists at her sides and staring at him accusingly, her mind whirling with thoughts of why there was a clone of her here.

“I made her. She is everything you are; same personality, same feelings, most of the same memories except...she’s all human,” he said calmly, almost dispassionately as he gazed down at her duplicate.

“What’s that s’pose to mean exactly?” Rose asked. Even though she had just accepted the reality that she may not be as human as she once was, she wasn’t ready for him to tell her how inhuman she might be.

He looked up at her. “I think you know,” he said softly as he looked her directly in her eyes. “You know, Rose. It may be difficult to accept but you’ve been changing for some time now, ever since you absorbed the time vortex.”

Rose’s eyes widened in shock. “How do you know ‘bout that? I didn’t tell you.”

“You showed me earlier. You showed me everything, all that you were, what you did, who you became and even your potential future. You shared your time with me and it was…brilliant,” he whispered in awe. “I saw you, all of you.”

“I don’t understand,” Rose said, tears pooling in eyes, overwhelmed by what he was suggesting. “Are you sayin’ you looked into my mind? You saw what happened to me and the Doctor?”

He walked over to her and gently grasped her shoulders. “It’s more than that. What we shared went beyond some physical pleasure. You bared yourself to me in the most intimate way. You touched me in a way no human could,” he said passionately. There was a certain male pride and a pleased look in his eyes that he had something from her that his parallel didn’t and, if he was right, never would.

“You mean telepathy?” she asked, worried that he had seen so much of her, knew so much of her past, some of which she wasn’t very proud of.

His face softened. “Oh Rose, telepathy was only part of it. I’m a Time Lord. Time doesn’t flow around or through me like it does most beings and it doesn’t around you either. You didn’t share just your memories, you shared your time with me.”

Rose’s forehead furrowed and she shook her head. “So you saw my past but what does that have to do with…with her,” Rose said looking down at her clone.

The Doctor took a deep breath. He knew that what he was about to tell her would be possibly shocking and hard for her to accept but he couldn’t not tell her. He cared about her too much. The more he looked at her the more he realized that he was going to have to do something that frightened him more than anything. He was going to have to let her go. All he could do was hope that if he did, she would realize what he was offering her and stay with him.

“Rose, you know that there are fixed points in time as well as potential timelines based on decisions we make. Yes, no, up, down, left, right, do I take the job at Henriks and change my life forever or take the job at the butchers and stay on the same dull path. Every decision you make each day affects your future. I have seen the result of one decision. If you leave here and find this Doctor in the universe of your birth, it wont’ be a happy ending for you.”

“Whadda you mean it won’t be a happy endin? You don’t know that!” Rose shouted, unable to accept that finding her other Doctor would be anything but good. “You just don’t want me to leave.”

“No!” He shoved her away and began pacing furiously, shoving his hands in the pockets of his black coat. He whipped around and stalked up to her. “I mean yes, I don’t want you to leave!” he snapped. “I don’t want you to go back to him! The him who let you go so easily! The him who couldn’t see what was right in front of him! And, the him who will let you go again! Do you want to know what he’s going to do? Because, I can show you, Rose. I can show you how he leaves you behind in the universe you worked so hard to escape from.”

“No! You’re lying!” Rose cried, tears coursing down her checks. She shook her head. Her Doctor wouldn’t leave her. He promised he wouldn’t do that to her. “He would never leave me! He loves me!”

“That’s why he’ll leave you,” he said angrily. “There will be an accident, a biologic metacrisis, creating a human version of who he is and he’ll leave you with this human version of himself.”

Rose stared at him and had no words. She looked down at her clone and back at him. “I..I can’t even…You said you could show me,” she said, her voice shaking and unable to accept this but needing to see it. Even though she couldn’t comprehend him abandoning her, a small part of her whispered that he had sent her away before.

“I can,” he said, nodding his head and looking sadly at her. “I can show you that timeline where you continue jumping through the void, parallel after parallel, until you find him. The horrors that you will face in this quest and the ultimate outcome is not what you’re expecting.”

“I’m not afraid. Show me now or let me go!” Rose said in a strong voice and with determination in her eyes.

He nodded and walked up to her and placed his fingers on her temples. “Close your eyes, clear your mind and drop your barriers. Relax and let go,” he said softly as he felt her open up to him. Immediately, he was assaulted by her emotional turmoil. She was afraid, confused, angry and hurt. He felt mental doors bang shut and did his best to soothe away her emotions so she could tap into her underlying ability to feel time. Once she was focused on the tangle of threads between them, he plucked one and held it out for her to follow.

Rose felt him within her and was determined to not allow him to overwhelm or control her and closed a small piece of herself away, almost slamming the door in his face. He didn’t wince or lose his temper. Instead, he helped calm the storm of emotions within her. She was soon following him and could see at the periphery of her senses what he called time. A small thrill went through her as she opened herself up to the seductive melody and blur of colors that lay before her. When he showed her the threads and she grasped one he pointed out to her. She was almost overwhelmed and thought she would burn from the inside out but he stayed firmly beside her, protecting her from the intensity of raw time.

It didn’t take long for her to see what he had been trying to tell her. There were many more trips through the void, sleepless nights, injuries, horrific decisions over life and death and Daleks. She felt her emotions almost overwhelm her at the thought of facing them again but he stayed steady by her, supporting her but never doing more. He was letting her see and make up her own mind. She did see. She saw twenty-seven planets, her Doctor shot by a Dalek, Donna, Jack, her Mum, Sarah Jane and many others. There was a space station filled with millions of Daleks and the mad man behind them. She saw her Doctor’s double bursts into the prison as her Doctor suffered at a mad man’s accusations. There was joy as the Earth was saved and…there was that damned wretched beach and her standing between two Doctors. A tear slipped down her face as she watched it unfold. He was going to leave her with his double as he believed it was meant to be while he left and suffered as he lost Donna.

She couldn’t take any more and pulled away. When she opened her eyes, she burst into tears and the Doctor she was with now looked at her sadly. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry but that is what will happen.”

“I…I could change it. I know now and I could change it. It’s not fixed! It can’t be!” Rose pleaded crying hard, her body shaking with her sobs.

The Doctor sighed angry with this other piteous, self sacrificing Doctor who was hurting her. “No, you don’t understand!” he said harshly. “He doesn’t deserve your tears!”

Rose calmed and glared at him. “You don’t know anything about him. If he does this it’s ‘cos he thinks there’s no choice or he’s afraid I’ll be hurt,” she shouted at him, defending her Doctor but also trying to process the thought of him leaving her.

She watched as the Doctor before her angrily paced and finally turned to her pulling at his hair. “No! That’s not it! Stop being blind! He does it because he’s a coward. He doesn’t want to watch you die nor suffer the guilt from ripping you away from your family so he leaves you with this other him so that you can have some imagined fairy tale life. He’s not seeing you, this you as you are now. He still sees Rose, the innocent, brave and completely human girl who loved him. He’s neglecting to see something important.”

“Important? Like what!” Rose asked angrily. “Like how I shagged his parallel self who wants to keep me all to himself instead of letting me go where I belong,” she shot back.

It was like something dark enveloped this Doctor and he stalked over to her, the image of the Oncoming Storm. “Don’t you dare,” he said in a soft dangerous voice. “You made a choice and you chose me! He’s not gonna choose you. He will abandon you in that universe with his double where you will watch the human him and everyone you care about wither and die and you know what? You won’t because you’re not entirely human. Is that what you want? To be alone? Because that’s what will happen. Everyone will be gone and you will be alone.”

Rose stared up at him with disbelief. “You’re lying. He wouldn’t do that,” she said, trying to convince herself as much as him.

“You’ve seen what will happen. Nothing you do will change this. If you go back, this will happen. It’s fixed,” he lectured, trying to convey to her the impossibility of returning to this other Doctor.

“No, I could tell ‘im, explain and change it,” Rose pleaded, her mind whirling through the two alternatives and not willing to accept what he was suggesting. The conflict between a desire to stay with him yet having to give up this other life she could have was ripping her apart.

“It is fixed. If you do that, it will only be worse. You’ve seen what happens when you attempt to alter a fixed point. The Universe will convulse to correct it and reapers will come and destroy everything you love. Is that what you want?” he shouted, hating to be cruel but wanting her to know and accept the truth. He wasn’t going to dance around this or give her false platitudes. 

“No!“ Rose shrieked at him. “You know it’s not! I love them!” She turned back to her double. This was excruciatingly anguished. “You’re askin’ me to stay here and never see him or my family again, aren’t you? It was bad enough giving up my family for him but now you want me to give up everyone I love.” Rose squeezed her eyes tight as if she could make all of this go away but she knew that wasn’t the way life worked. Especially not her life. She looked over at her double again as the pros and cons of each option filtered through her mind. Then she looked back at him, understanding what he had done and why but needing to hear him say it. “That’s what she’s for,” she said in a broken voice as she indicated her double. 

The Doctor walked up next to her. “I was going to just send her and not tell you but I knew if I did that, you’d hate me and I couldn’t. This is what you’ve done to me,” he said, fighting to keep emotion out of his voice. “I need for you to want to be here with me so I’m giving you the choice. You know what will happen and all that can happen to this Rose. She is you, except she won’t remember me or anything you’ve experienced here. She will remember landing, having chips and leaving. She will continue on and find the other Doctor and she will be the one abandoned on Bad Wolf Bay to live out a human life with that Doctor’s metacrisis.”

“Unless I go and she stays here with you,” Rose whispered, gazing down at her twin.

“No, she won’t be you, not for me. I’ll have to create a new identity for her and leave her somewhere before the Time Lords get here.”

Rose looked up at him as he looked down at her double. “You’d do that. Be that cold hearted,” she said, aghast that he wouldn’t keep this Rose with him although a traitorous part of her was pleased.

He turned to her with an icy stare. “It’s not cold hearted. It’s kindness. She will never be you and she will never have to live in your shadow.” He looked at Rose and trailed his fingers down her face in a gentle caress. “It doesn’t have to be that way though. She could have a happy life with her Doctor in what you call Pete’s world. Your mother would have her daughter, a human daughter who would age properly and even have children. That Jackie Tyler wouldn’t have to live with the knowledge that her daughter would live on alone.”

“That’s not fair,” Rose said and looked back at her clone. “You’re asking me to give up everything.”

“Am I?” he asked softly. He reached out and grasped her hand. “Or am I asking you to embrace this life, a life that was meant for you. My uncommon Rose, you were never meant for some restricted life, living day after day on one planet in one time. It’s in your blood to be more, see more, live more. I won’t force you to stay. It’s your choice, Rose Tyler but don’t take too long. When my people arrive, there will be no choice left.” He squeezed her hand and walked out of the room without stopping or looking back at her.


	7. Chapter 7

Rose didn’t know how long she stood in that sterile, empty lab staring down at her clone. Everything he said and had shown her was at war in her mind. Daleks. This was all the fault of the bloody Daleks! Everything he showed her indicated they were responsible for the stars going out and ultimately for her dimension jumps. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. And, they shoot the Doctor and cause that meta whatsit that made two Doctors from one making this oh so much more complicated. She hated them!

What was the right choice for everyone, the multiverse, her clone, her family and her Doctors? Rose sighed and paced as she thought about how mucked up this all was. She looked over and saw Bad Wolf printed on a box. She looked down at the floor and tried to feel the Tardis. “What are you tryin’ to tell me?” she asked.

“That you could serve a greater purpose here,” a cultured female voice said with authority. Rose turned to find the Rani had entered the lab.

“What, by lettin’ you dissect me? That’s what you lot want isn’t it? To figure out how I regenerated those Time Lords by just a thought,” Rose said, narrowing her eyes at the Rani.

The Rani smiled condescendingly. “The Doctor is besotted with you. He’s always been a fool but now even more so. Did he tell you what will happen here? How you could make a difference?”

“He told me what would happen if I left and I know the Time Lords are comin. I have to make a choice.”

The Rani walked closer to her and Rose tensed not trusting her. “A choice is it? And you are contemplating the variables to decide then? Perhaps you are more clever than I gave you credit for being. You should have all the facts before you reach a decision,” she said and walked over to Rose’s unconscious clone. “He couldn’t replicate all of you. This is just a human. No more valuable than any other human. Except, she can finish what you started and resolve this whole multiversal implosion issue, freeing you to stay here and serve an even greater purpose.”

Rose snorted. “Yeah right. So you can get all powerful and do what? Take over the universe and recreate everything the way you want?”

“I do not think you fully comprehend what is happening here. Lord Omicrex will…”

“Lord Omicrex will fail,” a boisterous voice called out. Rose looked over to see the Corsair swagger into the room, a huge smile on her face.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be, Corsair?” the Rani sneered.

The Corsair laughed. “I’m exactly when and where I need to be, Rani. How about you? Rose isn’t going to serve herself up as a willing sacrifice to your rather dodgy experiments,” the Corsair said with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. She then turned to Rose. “Are you, Rose?”

“No, I’d really like to stay in one piece, thanks,” Rose replied, relieved to see the Corsair.

“Well of course you do! No sense lettin’ the Rani here muck about in your DNA. Especially not with the council’s emissaries about to arrive any time now.”

The Rani tensed. “They’re on their way already?” She turned to Rose. “You can stop this. You have the power of the vortex inside of you. We could help you channel it and you could destroy them utterly and give birth to a new order.”

Rose stared at her and for a brief flash saw what the Rani would do. She was mad and would fall upon any species unable to defend themselves from her. Entire civilizations would fall victim to her experiments and manipulations. “No. I’m not a murderer and I’m not gonna help you destroy anyone.”

The Rani looked disturbed like she had felt what Rose had done and didn’t like it. “Then you’re a fool! All that suffer at the hands of the council will be on your conscience.” She looked over at the Corsair. “And you, I suppose you’re just going to do nothing.”

The Corsair smiled and pulled a bottle and two ornate golden goblets out of her pockets which Rose surmised were bigger on the inside. “Me? Oh I’m gonna have a drink with Rose here as you run away from what assuredly will be a warrant for your arrest. I hear the council has you on a rather long list of rebels they want to incarcerate.”

The Rani practically growled and shot evil looks at both Rose and the Corsair as she quickly made her way out of the room. “And good riddance!” the Corsair shouted and poured an amber colored liquid into the goblets handing one to Rose.

“Uh, thanks,” Rose said and sniffed at the contents in the gold, jewel encrusted goblets. It smelled sort of fruity and smoky but unlike anything she’d ever smelled or tasted before.

“My pleasure! Never did care for the Rani. She’s been nothing but pain the arse since her academy days. Bottoms up!” the Corsair toasted and drained the goblet. Rose did likewise only she coughed the contents down. Whatever it was, it was quite potent.

The Corsair slapped her on the back. “Ahhh Pooshian whiskey! The forty-third century was a good era.” The Corsair then poured more.

“So you and the Doctor are old friends then?” Rose asked as she accepted another drink. This Corsair fascinated her and she had a good feeling about her…err, him…or whatever. Besides, it was a welcome interruption for the decision she still had to make. Right now, she could use a distraction to help break some of the tension and help her clear her mind.

“That old scalawag! Why I’ve known him since he was nothing but a wee Time Lord. Oh but we’ve had some fun! Racing Tardis across the radiation storm of the Horse Head Nebula and that time we drank our way through the an entire warehouse of illegal Barcelonan Brandy on Shan Shen and woke up in the vaults of the Bank of England here in merry old London. He swore he’d never go adventuring like that again. Said it took him a week to detox his body!” she said proudly and downed her drink. Rose did likewise but a little slower this time. The Corsair just refilled their goblets and then tossed her hat across the room and pulled up the sleeve to her white blouse to show Rose a tattoo of an ourborous. “See this, it’s my signature!” she declared proudly of her tattoo. “Get it every regeneration. The Doctor was with me one time I got this beauty put on. Come to think of it, we might have had a few dozen too many that night too! Ended up flying loops around Skaro mooning the Kaled high council, even Davros himself!” she bragged.

Rose couldn’t help but grin at the thought of the Doctor doing something as cheeky as mooning some alien civilization. She leaned over and examined it. “This tattoo like some sort of Time Lord thing?” she asked. 

The Corsair laughed loudly and smacked her hand on a nearby table causing several glass vials to tip over. “Oh Rose, you are a cheeky one aren’t you? I can see why he likes you. Love, Time Lords are for the most part a repressed boring lot who walk around like they have a stick up their arse. The Doctor, me and a few others being the exception. They aren’t bloody likely to get anything as unique and flash as this painted anywhere on them. Especially, not out carousing with the Doctor, gambling in the Judoon races and flirting with the pretty ladies of every species. Most Time Lords are so bloody boring! It’s why they want to crack down on all the younger races. And, it’s why they want you. You‘re different and a mystery and they don‘t like that, unlike me and the Doctor. You‘re why we travel.”

Rose looked up to find the Corsair staring at her with speculation and something else in her eyes. “You’re older than the Doctor,” she said, looking at the Corsair.

The Corsair smiled. “What is age but a number? All that counts is how you feel and act. But, I’ve been around a long time, lovely Rose. I’ve seen life, death and everything in between along with amazing and terrifying sights and still I haven’t seen it all. There’s always something new out there. Look at you. Why I’ve never met anyone like you before and probably never will again. You’re a bit unique you know. Just like the Doctor.”

Rose perked up at this revelation. The Corsair smiled at her. “There’s something about the two of you, some connection. I see it even if the two of you are too stubborn and pig headed not to. It‘s there and it‘s real. Must be confusing raised as a twenty first century human to suddenly find yourself in the middle of all this much, less find out how unique you are,” she said, waving her goblet around, whiskey sloshing out the side.

“Yeah, just a bit,” Rose acknowledged and looked over toward her clone. The Corsair watched her and walked over to the capsule and stared down at her duplicate before turning to her.

“You’re not a Time Lord and not bound by all our rules but I think you know there are some things that are meant to be. He’s told you what will happen to you if you leave. Did he tell you what will happen to him here?“

“No,” Rose said softly but wanting to hear more.

“Wanna know?” the Corsair asked and winked at her.

Rose nodded her head. The Corsair finished off her whiskey and slammed the goblet down. “They’ll take the Doctor back to Gallifrey and after a quick and sham hearing, condemn him to a few centuries of isolated suspension. Essentially, what you would call suspended animation. Then, the council will be Omicrex lackeys and do his bidding and he will stifle and suffocate all other developing species in the universe to prevent them from progressing too far, including Earth.”

Rose stared at her in horror and drained her goblet, glad for the strong drink. “And if I stay, I can save the Doctor. That’s what you’re sayin’ isn’t it?”

The Corsair shrugged her shoulders. Rose began pacing her mind whirring at this new element to her dilemma. She walked over to her clone and again felt tears coursing down her cheeks. The Corsair came up next to her and put her hand on Rose’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I know how difficult this is. Only you can make this decision. No matter what you choose, I’ll help you. I’m sorry to say, you have to decide now. There isn’t much time left.”

Rose looked over at her and smiled. “Kind of ironic for a Time Lord don’t ya think?”

The Corsair grinned broadly. “That’s my girl!”

***************

When the Doctor left Rose, he stormed down the halls of the building in a dark mood. Part of him wanted to race back in there and snog the clothes off of her and show her how much he needed and wanted her and the life she could have with him. Well, have with him once they escaped the pursuing Time Lords. Still, running from Time Lords could be fun. There was another part of him that knew it had to be her choice. He was hating that part right now and resenting her hesitation. She had said she wanted to be with this him and if her moans and sighs from the previous night were any indication, she was not too displeased with that decision. He was rather proud of how he had curled her toes and left his mark on her. 

Then his thoughts were filled with a potential timeline and another Doctor. This Doctor was filled with remorse, depression and self loathing tempered only with a slice of cockiness and something else. He suspected that something else came from Rose. She had a way to make one want to do better if only to see her smile. Perhaps he felt a bit of pity for that Doctor, but not enough to give up Rose much less to watch the prat abandon her with his other self. It irritated him to no end that he could lose her to something like this. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked toward the room where they had dinner the previous day and looked out the floor to ceiling windows. The sky was blue and the sun glinted off the tall modern skyscrapers. This could be the last day he gazed out at this skyline. He regretted taking it for granted and sitting here in resentment of this wonderful planet. So much wasted time.

“Lord Doctor!” a booming voice called out. The Doctor turned to find a group of three formally dressed members of the Celestial Intervention Agency. “You are henceforth commanded to immediately return to Gallifrey to answer charges of dereliction of duty and perpetual insubordination and to remand the creature known as Rose to the Gallifreyan Scientific Advisory Board. 

The Doctor scowled. Even the Time Lord coppers were pompous stodgy pillocks. Of course they were also well armed. Just as he was about to respond with something appropriately snarky, he felt the hairs on his arms prickle and the air around him seemed to crackle. He turned and grinned at the sight before him. Rose. She grabbed his hand and said one word.

“Run!”

She transported them to his office and tugged at his hand as they ran for his Tardis. He stopped suddenly. “Rose, No! She’s grounded remember. I‘ve tried, I can‘t get her free.”

Rose grinned a smile that showed a tantalizing peek of her tongue. “Yeah, but you didn’t have me then either. Now come on!”

Something sparked within him and he snapped his fingers and his Tardis’ door swung open and the two of them dashed inside. He ran straight for the console while Rose locked the door and then followed him. He raced around the console shoving at switches, slamming buttons and twisting knobs. And then he stopped and looked at Rose. She walked up to him and could see the monitor flashing “Bad Wolf” at her. She laid her hand on the console. “I know old girl. I understand now.”

The Doctor looked at her and then the console. “Are you talking to my ship?” he asked, incredulous.

Rose grasped his hand in hers and laid it on the console. “No, not talk like you and me. It’s sort of feelings and images and her burnin’ my fingers when I get it wrong.” He smiled broadly at this. “You and me, we gotta do this together, yeah?”

His smile faded and he looked at her intently. “Yeah,” he said softly and pulled her close to him. “Show me what the Tardis feels like in your mind and lets see if I can’t figure out what she needs for us to do.”

Rose nodded her head and he pressed his forehead to hers. He felt her relax and lower her telepathic shields and he dove into her mind. Although her emotions were turbulent, she was much calmer, focused and determined. She opened up to him more and together they found a spot tucked away in her mind where an ancient song lingered. A Tardis was a complex being that did not communicate like corporeal creatures. Its very existence was multidimensional and temporal and Rose was not capable of understanding the complex concepts it tried to convey. Not even the Doctor could grasp it all but through Rose, he was able to understand that together they could break the lock. He hummed a song to Rose and pulled her into his mind until she was humming with him until they had harmonized with a small tendril of the Tardis and shattered the lock that kept her grounded.

Rose gasped and reached out for the console and the Doctor steadied her. “Brilliant,” he breathed and went back to racing around the console until soon they dematerialized from his Earthbound confinement while the Time Lords sent to retrieve him watched in disbelief.

Once in the vortex, he let out a whoop of sheer joy and practically danced around the console. “Did you see that Rose? We just handed the CIA their arse!”

Rose stared sadly at the console. “Yeah, I saw that. They’ll come after us now won’t they?”

The Doctor’s smile faded, he hit a few switches to tuck them away in a hidden spot in the vortex and walked over to her. “Of course, but it’s not like I haven’t outrun them before. Been on the run from my people dozens of times.” He watched her process everything that had just happened. The choice she had just made. He knew this had been difficult for her but a part of him was so elated he was having difficulty deciding what to say to her. “Rose,” he said and took her hand in his.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she looked down at the floor. “It’s just…I’m never gonna see my Mum again or anyone else I know. And I’m…” she tried to explain to him, a single tear trailing down her cheek. “I just wish I could be sure that everything is all right. The Corsair said she’d make sure my duplicate got off all right but I just…”

The Doctor pulled her into his arms and held her. “If the Corsair said she’d see to it then it’s done. There aren’t many people I trust in the universe and she’s one of them.” Rose nodded into his coat but buried her face into his chest harder, breathing through her tears thinking about her Mum, Pete and Tony whom she would never see grow up. When she had been on her quest to find the Doctor she had been so ready to leave them all behind, but now it was real and she had to live with it. Torchwood and all her friends were gone along with Jack and everyone from her original universe including…the Doctor. She would never stop worrying about him even if he was being a complete arse and dumping other her off. It would be a long time before she could come to terms with what she had done today.

The Doctor held her tightly to him, enjoying having her there with him even if she was mourning another him. Everything in him screamed this was the right choice for her and that wasn’t just for his own selfish desire. He knew that her decision to stay would assure the happiness of so many she left behind. “Rose, if you want to be sure, I could show you.”

Rose looked up at him and nodded her head, unable to speak without being overcome. He ever so gently kissed her and again bumped his forehead against hers. He found a divergent thread that shot off away from her glowing all pink and yellow. She watched images stream through her mind and watched other Rose do and say all the things she would have. It was weird watching things unfold on Bad Wolf Bay as an observer when all she wanted to do was yell and scream at that Doctor for once again making a decision for someone else. The one thing she would never forget was the expression on her mother’s face and how happy she was to have her daughter there with her. It wouldn’t be easy for other Rose to come to terms with this but Rose knew she would. She just instinctually knew they would make it work.

The Doctor pulled them both back to the Tardis. Rose took a deep breath and then looked up at him. “Thank you,” she said with emotion. He nodded his head and pulled her around the console as checked some readings. “So what’s next?” she asked with a bit more lightness in her voice and trying to tamp down on all the emotions still swirling inside of her.

“Oh you know, life on the run. Adventures here and there but we do need to do some maintenance and maybe pick up a few things.”

“Yeah, sounds…great,” she responded, trying to work up enthusiasm.

“Yep, but first things first,” he announced and turned to her with a twinkle in his eye. “Want to tour my Tardis?”

Rose burst out laughing. “That’s the worst pick up line I’ve ever heard!” she said smiling at him.

He sidled on up to her. “I don’t do pick up lines,” he told her, sniffing. “I am a dignified Time Lord.”

“Yeah, that’s not what the Corsair said,” she teased.

He arched his brow in response and tugged her toward the corridor. “You liked this dignified Time Lord a few hours ago. As I recall, you even screamed in pleasure.”

Rose smiled and tugged him to a halt. “Don’t get too full of yourself.”

He stopped and his eyes darkened and a wicked smirk appeared. Slowly and gracefully he backed her up until she was flat against a coral strut. He leaned in close and stared into her eyes, trailing his fingers down the side of her face then her neck and playing with the neckline of her blouse. “I think you rather like it…when I’m full of myself,” he almost purred and leaned in close to her ear. “Especially when that means you get to be full of me as well.”

Rose felt herself flush as he leaned his body against hers. Her mind filled with memories of what they had done a few hours ago and oh she wanted that again. Her traitorous mind reminded her how guilty she should be feeling but her another part of her was saying this was right. She was where she was supposed to be. “You…you were going to show me your impressive Tardis,” she said breathily.

“Oh yes,” he answered. “It’s bigger on the inside, but then you know that all too well,” he said with a sexy twinkle in his eyes.

“Mmm I do,” she agreed. “Come on then.” She reached for his hand and together they left the console room, the Tardis humming happily at being free and having her Time Lord back where he should be and with his Rose. It wouldn’t be easy for the two of them and there was much work for them in this universe; emotional hurdles to overcome, friends to make and enemies to defeat but they would face it all together. The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the Tardis as it should be.

 

To be continued in A Smoldering Storm


End file.
